Students from Wayzata High School (WHS) visited the OATI Microgrid Technology Center on March 22, 2018 to learn about cybersecurity, the business of OATI, and the energy industry. The visit was arranged as part of the cybersecurity and Business Management and Economics courses in the school’s Compass Program.

Jerrod Montoya, recently appointed as Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for OATI’s Security and Risk Management team, addressed the students. As part of this team, Mr. Montoya is responsible for the overall governance of OATI security and risk management, which includes cybersecurity, physical security, vendor management, and security awareness and training.
 
Cybersecurity with Mr. Jerrod Montoya, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer

During the presentation, Mr. Montoya discussed a variety of cybersecurity topics and how OATI mitigates the operational risks. Some of the topics Mr. Montoya discussed in the presentation include:  

Key Operational Risks with the Cloud
•    Data Security — is the data protected?
•    Data Availability — is the data accessible?
•    Data Integrity — is the data authentic?

Key Factors to Evaluate Operational Risk
•    Threats — hackers, criminals, employees, hacktivists, nation states, natural disasters
•    Vulnerabilities — opportunities for threats to cause organizational harm
•    Impact/Likelihood — consider combination of threats and vulnerabilities with the chances and 
     effects of said event
•    Mitigation — determine what can be done to reduce one or more elements to an acceptable level of 
     risk

Defense in Depth: No SINGLE Point of Protection
•    Segmented Network
•    Firewalls at network ingress/regress points
•    Virus/Malware Protection
•    Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and Testing
•    Role Separation
•    Encrypted client network traffic (SSL/TLS)
•    Security Response Team
•    Record all Production Changes
•    Mandatory monthly Disaster Resiliency testing

In addition to students, WHS course instructors also had the opportunity to learn at this event and had the following to say:

“A truly unique opportunity for students to see various security aspects within an innovative company.” — Tika Kude

“Interesting to see the exchange of a commodity like energy.”  — Peter McKown

“The level of innovation at OATI was unlike any other place I have ever been.” — Scott Tordeur

Wayzata High School’s Compass Program

The Compass Program is an innovative professional studies program that encompasses cross-curricular and real-world learning. Juniors and Seniors in this program are able to earn high school and college credits while exploring career paths and working with professionals in the workplace. The courses are designed and taught in collaboration with business leaders. 

OATI is proud to help and prepare students in the community to make better informed decisions about their post-high school education and careers.