JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The fighting in Ukraine has sent out warnings across the U.S. about a threat to our national infrastructure. From fuel supplies to cyber attacks utilities are on alert.
News4JAX spoke with the CEO of JEA about the national concerns over infrastructure. This comes after both FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials announced increased threats of cyber attacks from Russia that could potentially impact our nation’s infrastructure.
JEA said it’s well aware of the threats and monitoring security constantly.
“We are aware that there’s increased scrutiny right now but this is something that’s gone on in the world for a while. While it may be a little bit higher level right now because of the issues that are going on in Russia-Ukraine, it is something we stay focused on every single day,” said JEA Managing Director & CEO Jay Stowe.
Stowe added a large global issue is the supply chain, particularly with fuel. The U.S. imports a lot of its oil from Russia and there are concerns about whether that will be impacted.
“We have fuel supplies that come from around the area, around the world so whenever there are activities that are impacted in Europe or Asia, there is the possibility that it impacts the ability to get supplies. We are in similar situations to people that are impacted by supply issues worldwide at this point,” said Stowe.
Stowe also said they keep very tight security on customers’ personal information in case that was ever the target of a cyber attack.
US cyber security officials have warned agencies and utilities like JEA and other power companies to lower their threshold of what they think should be reported to government agencies. Meaning anything that seems out of the ordinary in large computer networks needs to be reported to intelligence agencies.
JEA release a statement about the security concerns:
“JEA takes seriously our responsibility to safeguard our infrastructure. For security reasons, we are not at liberty to discuss our security measures. We will continue to take steps to ensure JEA’s infrastructure and electric services are protected for our customers and the Northeast Florida community.”