City, CPS Energy to collaborate against cyberattacks at new regional center

SAN ANTONIO – From phishing emails to ransomware attempts, the City of San Antonio faces thousands of cyberattacks a day.

But done the caller Alamo Regional Security Operations Center (ARSOC) astatine Port San Antonio, though, metropolis officials accidental they tin collaborate intimately with CPS Energy -- and perchance soon different section organizations -- to assistance each different amended support against those attacks.

Years successful the making, the ARSOC has been operational since precocious November and had a expansive opening connected Friday.

“It truly is borne from immoderate astute cyber-intelligence folks who said, ‘We privation to assistance each different out,’ who had a conception of work supra aforesaid -- much important than conscionable taking attraction of my bureau but helping america each enactment together,” said San Antonio Chief Information Officer Craig Hopkins.

Hopkins says the city’s web security, cybersecurity, and immoderate quality and carnal information teams are moving retired of the caller building.

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A CPS Energy spokeswoman said the inferior does not person unit on-site yet and could not springiness a clip framework for erstwhile they’d arrive. However, she said they program to person cybersecurity analysts astatine the ARSOC, but staffing volition alteration based connected availability and the menace level.

While the metropolis and CPS Energy don’t stock systems, they tin springiness each different a heads up astir what they’re seeing.

“So the superior cognition is to watch, support the wall,” Hopkins said. “Watch what’s happening successful your enactment arsenic cyberattacks happen, but to stock that accusation with others due to the fact that we cognize if what happens astatine CPS is astir apt going to hap astatine the city, it is astir apt going to hap astatine different partners arsenic well. So to get that speedy quality across.”

The consequences of a palmy cyberattack could beryllium severe. CPS Energy CEO Rudy Garza reminded the assemblage astatine the unveiling of the chaos caused by the grid problems successful February.

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“We cognize the devastation that a major wintertime lawsuit similar what happened successful February tin person not lone connected San Antonio but connected the full authorities of Texas, connected the cardinal U.S. It was devastating,” Garza said. “You know, we’ve got atrocious actors crossed the satellite that would emotion thing amended than to bash that time successful and time out. And they person with different utilities crossed the United States and crossed the, you know, the full globe.”

Hopkins said ARSOC could see much partners than conscionable the metropolis and CPS Energy. VIA Metropolitan Transit is coming connected board, helium said, and they’ve had conversations with SAWS, the San Antonio River Authority, the San Antonio Housing Authority, “and galore different municipal agencies.”

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