Register today to engage with members of NRECA’s cybersecurity team for this free webinar series! Available exclusively to NRECA voting members, you’ll get insights into specific NRECA cybersecurity offerings and discover new opportunities tailored to your cooperative’s needs. From timely program updates to interactive, hands-on exercises, don’t miss these expert-led discussions covering the issues that matter most to your co-op.
View recordings and resources from previous webinars in this series:
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The Best of 2025 Co-op Cyber Tech
Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 | 1-3:30 p.m. ET
This webinar brings together three standout sessions from NRECA’s 2025 Co-op Cyber Tech, June 24-26 in Denver, Colorado. Whether you're looking to elevate your communication, support your team’s well-being, or transform your training programs, don’t miss this powerful blend of expert insight, practical tools, and forward-thinking strategies to help co-ops enhance their cybersecurity posture. We’ll also be joined by this year’s Science Fair winner, Bhumi Tandel, who will present and discuss her award-winning poster.
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[accordion title="How%20to%20Make%20Your%20Cybersecurity%20Messaging%20More%20Impactful"]Cybersecurity is crucial, but getting people to understand and act on security messages can be challenging. The "curse of knowledge"-where experts struggle to explain complex topics in simple terms-can unintentionally weaken awareness and risk programs. Research shows that when security messaging is confusing, people are more likely to ignore or reject it. This talk will explore strategies to make cybersecurity communication clear, engaging and effective for all audiences. Led by an Emmy-winning journalist, you'll learn how to overcome the "curse of knowledge" and craft messages that resonate, educate and inspire action.
Instructor:
Kerry Tomlinson, Cyber News Reporter & Editor in Chief, Ampyx News[/accordion]
[accordion title="Mental%20Health%20in%20Cybersecurity%3A%20Leveraging%20the%20Maslach%20Burnout%20Inventory%20(MBI)%20"]This session builds on NRECA's webinar, "Mental Health In Cybersecurity: Balancing The Scales", and explores the critical intersection of mental health and cybersecurity, focusing on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) as a tool to assess and address burnout among cybersecurity professionals. Attendees will learn actionable strategies to identify signs of burnout, understand its impact on performance and decision-making and implement practical techniques for fostering resilience and mental well-being in high-pressure environments.
Instructor:
Patrick Kelley, CEO, Critical Path Security, Leargas Security[/accordion]
[accordion title="Microlearning%20Techniques%20to%20Improve%20Cybersecurity%20Awareness%20Training%20"]Traditional cybersecurity training often fails to engage employees or drive lasting behavior change. Microtraining and microlearning offer a more effective approach by delivering bite-sized, frequent and engaging lessons that improve retention and application. This session will explore different microtraining techniques, why they work better than traditional methods and how to implement them in your own organization. Attendees will also gain insights from real-world cybersecurity education plans designed and executed at a co-op, providing practical strategies to keep employees engaged and security-aware year-round.
Instructor:
Lindsey Mote, Cybersecurity Administrator, Mountain View Electric Association.[/accordion]
[accordion title="A%20Simulation%20Framework%20to%20Detect%20and%20Mitigate%20Cyber-physical%20Network%20and%20Control%20Attacks%20on%20DERs"]Increased grid integration of DERs has exposed new cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the form of network and control attacks. Network attacks alter DER sensor readings of critical measurements necessary for proper grid operation. Control attacks manipulate operational logic used to govern the behavior of grid devices, including resources like inverters and batteries. Both attacks can cause power outages and result in poor power quality, inefficient resource utilization, and higher carbon footprints, ultimately imposing financial losses on consumers and utilities. This work provides a highly modular and accessible piece of software that simulates attacks in order to train algorithms that can detect and mitigate attacks without the use of excessive network communication or additional DER investments. The software modularity allows infinite permutations of grid configurations, DER setups, and algorithm types to be input and evaluated, such that mitigation strategies can be trained for various cyber-physical attacks beyond the ones considered here. The potential to remotely upload these trained algorithms to existing DER devices and systems makes solution integration simple and affordable. This type of adaptable framework to study cyber-physical attacks is the first of its kind and will be an invaluable tool to fortify DER system security and resiliency.
Instructor:
Bhumi Tandel, Graduate Student Research Assistant, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab[/accordion]
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GridEx VIII in Action: Uncanny Valley REA Simulated Exercise
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET
Join NRECA's Cybersecurity Member Advisory Group (CS-MAG) for this immersive webinar designed specifically for electric co-op leaders new to GridEx. Don't miss this opportunity to observe the CS-MAG as they play fictional utility—Uncanny Valley REA—as it navigates a GridEX VIII simulation tailored to the realities of small and medium-sized co-ops. Register today for the unique opportunity to:
- See how a co-op participates in GridEx from start to finish.
- Understand the role for GridEx in enhancing cybersecurity preparedness.
- Discover practical ways to adapt the exercise to the needs of your co-op.
Please note: A one-hour Q&A roundtable will follow immediately from 3-4 p.m. ET. Separate registration is required to attend this session.
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GridEx VIII in Action: Uncanny Valley REA Simulated Exercise Roundtable
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 3-4 p.m. ET
Participate in a one-hour roundtable discussion and Q&A session, hosted by the NRECA Cybersecurity team in collaboration with the CS-MAG, immediately following the GridEx VIII in Action: Uncanny Valley REA Simulated Exercise webinar.
Note: The one-hour roundtable discussion will not be recorded.
Who Should Attend:
While these webinars are open to all NRECA voting members, the intended audience is cooperative leadership (CEO, GM, CTO, CIO), and staff who have responsibility for cybersecurity at their organizations.
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