And just how real is the cyber threat?

How real is cyber? Last Friday, I met with an electric utility with combined cycle power plants. I mentioned the potential vulnerability of the electronic (cyber) link from the combustion turbine vendor to the utility. On Monday, I got the following e-mail: "Saturday after remotely tuning the unit, the combustion turbine vendor gave the clearance to open the cyber connection to disconnect them from our system. Unfortunately an operator was downloading a file at the time and as a result the plant tripped." The utility now recognizes the need improved policies and procedures. Cyber is real and has a direct impact on plant (and other key operational assets) reliability and utility costs.  Joe Weiss