The National Infrastructure Protection Plan, developed by the Department of Homeland Security, recognizes identifies 16 specific sectors of critical infrastructure in American society. The Plan provides guidance for the public and private sectors to work together to ensure their security. SIA participates in the planning for security as the face of the private sector industry.

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Drone Restrictions and Energy Infrastructure: Navigating UAFR Eligibility 

As drone activity around critical infrastructure continues to increase, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) proposed Unmanned Aircraft Flight Restriction (UAFR) framework could provide eligible energy facilities with a new federally recognized tool to help protect their airspace. While a UAFR does not physically prevent unauthorized drones from entering restricted airspace, it establishes an enforceable no-fly area that…

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Drones Over Critical Infrastructure: A Growing Blind Spot for Utilities 

Unauthorized drone activity around substations, generation sites, and transmission corridors has moved from rare curiosity to routine occurrence. Utilities across the sector are reporting more frequent sightings near critical assets, some benign (hobbyists, photographers), others clearly reconnaissance or targeting behavior. Most sites still have no way to detect, classify or respond to this activity; radar…

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Thermal Imaging: Protecting Utility Assets Before Problems Escalate 

Thermal imaging is becoming an essential tool for electric utilities because it supports physical security, asset protection and early detection.  From a security perspective, thermal cameras can detect people and vehicles in darkness, fog, smoke and other challenging conditions where conventional cameras may struggle. This allows security teams to identify perimeter intrusions and suspicious activity at substations, generation facilities and remote infrastructure.  The…

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Why Energy Infrastructure Owners are Built for the “AI-Native” Enterprise  

“AI-native” refers to an organization or process that is designed around artificial intelligence from the outset, rather than adding AI later. Companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are good examples. When they design a business process, AI is inherently built into it. It is not an afterthought or an add-on. It’s central to how they operate, make decisions and…

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Beyond Copper Theft: Why Fuel Theft Is Becoming a Critical Utility Security Concern

For electric utilities, physical security has traditionally focused on copper theft, vehicle break-ins, vandalism, substations and critical equipment. But an increasingly attractive target is often sitting in plain sight: the fuel stored in utility yards, service depots, fleet areas and emergency response facilities. Reports of fuel theft are beginning to surface more frequently in incident…

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Farnborough International Airshow: Understanding the Evolving Global Security Landscape

The global security landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. Today’s threats are no longer confined by geography, industry, or discipline. Cyberattacks can disrupt physical infrastructure, geopolitical tensions can reshape supply chains overnight, artificial intelligence is accelerating both innovation and adversarial capabilities and vulnerabilities within a single supplier can cascade across critical industries and allied nations.…

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Securing Oil and Gas in a Converged World: Key Takeaways From SIA’s Vertical Insights Symposium

The oil and gas sector remains a cornerstone of critical infrastructure—powering economies while facing an increasingly complex risk landscape. At the Security Industry Association (SIA) Vertical Insights Symposium on oil and gas security, industry leaders, technology experts and public-sector stakeholders explored how organizations are adapting to address the convergence of physical security, cybersecurity and operational…

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Continuous Monitoring Is Necessary. Continuous Exposure Is Not. 

Across critical infrastructure, continuous monitoring has increasingly been implemented through polling, persistent connectivity and continuously exposed devices. As operational environments scale to tens of millions of connected endpoints, that communication burden increasingly drives exposure, latency, operational fragility and escalating operational expenses.  The more frequent the polling, ping or heartbeat interval, the more operationally critical the…

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3D Grid Security: Actions Available Now and Upcoming FAA Protections 

Traditional fences stop at the property line—drones fly right over them.   While airspace is federal territory, local law enforcement governs the ground—giving you immediate power to interdict pilots using state or local statutes.  What You Can Do Now While utilities generally cannot prohibit lawful drone transit through regulated airspace, drone pilots may still be subject…

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