New Report Reveals Weakest Links On Arkansas Power Grid

Is Arkansas’ electrical grid at risk?

Daron Frederick, Chief Information Officer of the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, gave a presentation to the Arkansas Senate Committee on Children and Youth about Arkansas’ electrical grid. He says risk is low, but “hacktivists” and nation states like China still pose a threat. He even gave a list of what those threats are.

Report Given On Arkansas Power Grid

Daron Frederick says that the biggest threats to the power grid come from minor physical threats from extremists and environmental activists.

Key concerns for Arkansas are as follows:

• Cyber Threats: From various groups including nation-states.
• Election and Insider Threats: Potential risks during the upcoming election and from within the organization.
• Data Centers: The increasing power demands from data centers, used for activities like cryptocurrency mining and AI, which strain the grid.
• Power Generation: The phasing out of coal plants poses challenges in replacing this capacity due to difficulties in quickly building new generation facilities.

Arkansas Infrastructure Is Not Immune

Daron Frederick’s report comes just days after the city of Little Rock ordered the removal of surveillance equipment across the city.

For years, Little Rock had been using monitoring technology literally designed by a company owned by the Chinese Government called Hikvision. The company is currently on a blacklist by the United States government due to national security concerns.

The city’s decision to fix the problem has been hailed as a responsible decision to improve the safety of the city.