Cyber security is of course a major issue for utilities. The risks, the potential vulnerabilities, the investments. And probably that nagging question: Is our security as good as we think it is?

A new tool from the Energy Department, the Cyber Security Self-Evaluation Survey Tool, has been released to help utilities answer that question. Part of an overall White House initiative to develop a Cyber Security Capability Maturity Model for the electricity industry, the new tool “helps electric utilities and grid operators identify opportunities to further develop their own cyber security capabilities by posing a series of questions that focus on areas including situational awareness and threat and vulnerability management.”

It also generates a report that can be used to identify potential problem areas and score the organization’s cyber security capabilities.

The Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model was developed by a diverse group of stakeholders led by the Department of Energy in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and in collaboration with industry, other federal agencies, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and others. More than a dozen utilities participated in pilot evaluations to help refine the model.

Utilities also can anonymously share their self-assessments with DOE and in return will receive reports with anonymous benchmarking results from all utility participants.