{"id":198258,"date":"2026-03-22T14:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/22\/littleton-electric-recognized-for-cybersecurity-leadership-and-community-impact\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T14:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:25:09","slug":"littleton-electric-recognized-for-cybersecurity-leadership-and-community-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/22\/littleton-electric-recognized-for-cybersecurity-leadership-and-community-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Littleton Electric recognized for cybersecurity leadership and community impact\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Littleton Electric recognized for cybersecurity leadership and community impact\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.lowellsun.com\/2026\/03\/22\/littleton-electric-recognized-for-cybersecurity-leadership-and-community-impact\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-22 14:08:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.lowellsun.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. LITTLETON \u2014 The Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments has received a cybersecurity industry award for its leadership in raising awareness of the threats posed to municipal utilities by foreign adversaries. LELWD has demonstrated leadership in cybersecurity by presenting to its peers at industry events, building strategic public-private partnerships, and sharing hard-earned lessons.
\nOn behalf of LELWD, General Manager Nick Lawler, P.E., accepted the Community Impact Award for \u201coutstanding achievement in safeguarding civilization\u201d from Dragos, a leading industrial cybersecurity firm, at a Feb. 12 event. The award recognizes LELWD\u2019s exemplary efforts in protecting critical infrastructure and contributing to broader community resilience in the face of cyber threats.
\n\u201cCybersecurity stands as a paramount concern in our industry, escalating in significance with each passing day,\u201d said Lawler, a past chairman of the American Public Power Association, a nationwide organization representing municipal power providers. \u201cPublic private partnerships, such as those with Dragos, support through APPA\u2019s cybersecurity programs, and active participation in information-sharing forums have been instrumental in helping us navigate these challenges, share lessons learned, and protect our community.\u201d
\nLELWD worked with Dragos, EvoLab Technology Solutions, and the APPA to boost its cybersecurity after being alerted in November 2023 by the FBI to an intrusion into its computer systems by foreign hackers. No customer data was compromised, and the intrusion posed no immediate threat to the utility\u2019s operating systems.<\/p>\n

LELWD was one of about 200 New England organizations similarly affected in 2023, according to information from federal investigators. By March 2025, LELWD was able to speak publicly about the incident with a goal of educating other utilities of the risk and the available solutions.
\nRecently, Lawler presented at a conference on cybersecurity lessons learned from LELWD\u2019s experiences, offering valuable insights to the assembled experts. The event was organized by the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council\u2019s Cyber Mutual Assistance Program. The CMA Program consists of industry cyber experts who provide voluntary emergency cyber assistance to entities in the electric power sector during disruptions. The ESCC is a CEO-level partnership coordinating between the electric power sector and the federal government.
\nOther presenters included the APPA\u2019s Cybersecurity Program Senior Manager Anna Detloff, and Cybersecurity Specialist Christopher Ching who shared lessons from Department of Energy-funded programs: Senior Vice President of Grid Security, Technical & Operations Services Adrienne Lotto, who provided an overview of the current state of cybersecurity in the industry; and representatives from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Edison Electric Institute.
\nThe conference highlighted the critical role for public-private partnerships and mutual assistance in bolstering cybersecurity for public power utilities. For example, LELWD \u2014 a small municipal electric utility serving the towns of Littleton and Boxboro \u2014 has benefited from its collaboration with Dragos, the cybersecurity firm, which has supported the management of operational technology sensors deployed with assistance from the APPA.
\nIn May 2024, when Lawler was chairman-elect, APPA secured a $4 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, funded by the Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Program, under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. This four-year initiative aids small and resource-limited public power utilities in strengthening defenses, enhancing incident response, increasing threat information sharing, and accessing assessments, training, guidebooks, and events.
\n\u201cCybersecurity remains front of mind for the public power community, regardless of the size of our member utilities,\u201d said Scott Corwin, president and CEO of APPA. \u201cThis agreement with DOE will help bolster the cybersecurity defenses of our members and is the latest example of successful collaboration between APPA, its members and the federal government.\u201d
\nLELWD is a community-owned municipal utility providing safe, reliable, and affordable electric and water services. The Light Department serves Littleton, Boxboro and Devens. The Water Department services Littleton and portions of Boxboro. For more information, visit lelwd.com.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Littleton Electric recognized for cybersecurity leadership and community impact\u00a0 https:\/\/www.lowellsun.com\/2026\/03\/22\/littleton-electric-recognized-for-cybersecurity-leadership-and-community-impact\/ Publish Date: 2026-03-22 14:08:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.lowellsun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/low-l-LELWD-021226-01.jpg?w=1024&h=1536","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-198258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198260,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198258\/revisions\/198260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}