The National Emergency Supply Agency’s wind power project involved penetrating systems and practising countermeasures for sabotage

In the PUHALLUS (Managing Parks in the Event of External Sabotage) project, which was carried out by the National Emergency Supply Agency in cooperation with Traficom’s National Cyber Security Centre Finland and the Electricity Pool, wind power systems were penetrated and countermeasures for serious cyber-physical sabotage were rehearsed. PUHALLUS was the first ever exercise designed for the wind power industry and a unique one thanks to its multi-stage implementation.

A significant part of Finland’s electricity is produced by wind power, which is why the National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) examined the risks and threats related to wind power and the need to develop preparedness through a separate study in 2024. The study highlighted the need to identify and further analyse cyber-physical vulnerabilities in wind power systems. The PUHALLUS project was a continuation of this study.

Planning, maintenance and responsiveness are part of resilience

The first step in the PUHALLUS project was to carry out penetration tests in the three major wind energy organisations that volunteered. The aim was to find out whether it is possible to gain access to the premises or systems, and what the worst-case repercussions could be. The results were used to create fictitious scenarios, which were then discussed in an extensive tabletop exercise with experts in the field. Dozens of experts committed themselves to the project from start to finish, contributing their critical input and expertise to the development of preparedness. Lessons were learned by both wind industry operators and the authorities.

“PUHALLUS has substantially improved our understanding of the resilience of wind power. These systems are complex and layered, and decentralisation alone does not guarantee their resilience. High operational reliability requires not only careful planning and maintenance, but also the ability to react to unexpected situations,” says Paavo Tertsunen, a preparedness expert at the NESA.

Cooperation through trust networks is crucial

The NESA and National Cyber Security Centre Finland (NCSC-FI) stress the importance of cooperation within trust networks. For example, the Electricity Pool and the NCSC-FI’s ISAC information sharing groups promote the confidential exchange of information in the energy sector.

Regular cooperation increases understanding of current events and lowers the threshold for asking for help. In addition to acute situations, networks are important channels for discussing exercise findings, for example. One of the key findings of the PUHALLUS tabletop exercise was precisely the difficulty of multidisciplinary information exchange.

The PUHALLUS project is funded by the NESA’s Energy 2030 programme, which develops solutions to ensure uninterrupted energy supply also in a low-carbon society.