"Q&A With Danish Saleem: A 'Bottomless Cyber Enthusiast' Works To Secure US Power Grid Against Hackers"
Danish Saleem is a senior energy systems cybersecurity researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) who has focused on distributed energy systems, such as rooftop solar panels, that typically serve local customers. These systems contribute around 740,000 megawatts to the US power grid as of 2021 and are proliferating rapidly. However, there is still no unified cybersecurity certification standard that manufacturers must adhere to. Saleem wants to implement "security by design," or a method for incorporating security into devices during production. Through constant communication with distributed energy stakeholders and federal partners, he is helping develop cybersecurity standards to protect the nation's power grid against the growing threat of cyberattacks. This article continues to discuss Saleem's cybersecurity journey, how a hacker could exploit one vulnerability to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of homes, and how he is helping manufacturers build security into their devices.