Information Assurance Expert on Protecting Infrastructure

The guest speaker for the chapter's May luncheon was Bryan Tepper, information assurance manager for the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO). Pepper retired from the FBI with 26 years of service, so it was only fitting that he begin his presentation with a kidnapping case he and his team worked on in Los Angeles. The case was solved in just 13 days. He moved right into his HECO presentation and spoke about how he and his team manage and protect HECO's infrastructure and power grids. Pepper discussed some of the daily challenges his organization faces, including load balancing. The company is focused on renewable energy and is currently between 25 to 26 percent. He and his team have managed to separate their LAN from the Internet. Some of the security measures in place to protect their infrastructure, power grid and information are remote key entry, firewall hardening, network segmentation and encryption of all personal identification information (PII) for employees and customers. Phishing emails are periodically sent to personnel to see if anyone will click on links in emails or open attachments; 30 percent will click on links, and 12 percent will open attachments. Tepper emphasized that HECO must be vigilant in its quest to protect its networks, infrastructure and power grids. One way it does this is through joint projects with the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and other Defense Department partners in the Hawaiian Islands to help them identify and mediate risks as they're identified. Also at the luncheon, Graham Franciso from Damien Memorial School was recognized as Student of the Month. Alyssa Foo of TEKsystems was honored as Young AFCEAN of the Month, Robert "Bob" Tappy of KaiHonua LLC as Executive of the Month and Col. Terri Bailey, USAF, Pacific Air Forces, as Senior Government Leader of the Month.

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