--- title: "Keeping the lights on: Why recovery readiness matters for power and energy operations" description: Power and energy organizations are a prime target of cyberattacks. They face cyberthreats that can disrupt generation, transmission and distribution. And as they introduce more connected digital technologies alongside legacy and connectivity-restricted OT systems, their cyberattack surface becomes more complex. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/keeping-the-lights-on-why-recovery-readiness-matters-for-power-and-energy-operations/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) # Keeping the lights on: Why recovery readiness matters for power and energy operations Power and energy organizations are a prime target of cyberattacks. They face cyberthreats that can disrupt generation, transmission and distribution. And as they introduce more connected digital technologies alongside legacy and connectivity-restricted OT systems, their cyberattack surface becomes more complex. [Try now](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cyber-protect-ot/trial/) [![Image 2: Lee Pender](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/96b4b6d9ceee3c624b79f42543d1d633.png)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/lee-pender/ "Lee Pender") [Lee Pender,](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/lee-pender/)Senior Content Marketing Manager 5 min read Last updated 17 July 2026 Power and energy organizations are a prime target of cyberattacks. They face cyberthreats that can disrupt generation, transmission and distribution. And as they introduce more connected digital technologies alongside legacy and connectivity-restricted OT systems, their cyberattack surface becomes more complex. That is why cyber resilience has become a critical operational requirement for the power and energy sector. The U.S. Department of Energy has identified cybersecurity as a [foundational element of electric grid resilience](https://www.energy.gov/ceser/cybersecurity-baselines-electric-distribution-systems-and-der-and-guidance), noting that increasing digitalization and connectivity continue to raise the risk of significant cyber incidents. ## Essential systems are at risk Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) servers, Human-Machine Interface (HMI) workstations, engineering stations, historians and other PC-based operational technology (OT) systems have become essential to maintaining grid stability and service availability. When those systems fail because of hardware faults, software issues or ransomware attacks, restoration speed is critical. So, power and energy producers need to go beyond focusing on preventing attacks. They need to be sure that they can [restore operations safely](https://www.acronis.com/en/resource-center/resource/acronis-cyber-protect-for-oil-and-gas-power-and-energy/) and as quickly as possible. ## Every minute of downtime matters Power and energy organizations operate in environments where downtime has consequences far beyond lost productivity: * A disruption at a generation facility can reduce available capacity. * A compromised substation can interrupt power delivery. * An unavailable control room workstation can delay operators from responding to changing grid conditions. * Failures affecting distributed energy resources, battery energy storage systems (BESS) or microgrids can reduce resilience when the grid needs flexibility the most. Restoring electricity and other critical services often depends on recovering the OT systems that monitor and control physical processes. Delays can affect: * Public safety. * Grid reliability and stability. * Service availability for customers. * Regulatory compliance. * Operational costs. * Public trust. Cybercriminals understand those pressures. The FBI reported more than 2,100 ransomware incidents [targeting U.S. critical infrastructure](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf) during 2025, including persistent threats to the energy sector. ## Recovery is different in operational technology Recovering an office laptop and recovering a substation engineering workstation are very different tasks. Power and energy organizations frequently operate: * Remote substations with limited connectivity. * Air-gapped or segmented OT networks. * Long-lived industrial computers running legacy Windows or Linux operating systems. * Vendor-certified systems that cannot be rebuilt or patched using conventional IT processes. Many facilities also have limited or no on-site IT support. During an outage, restoration may depend on substation technicians, operators or control engineers rather than dedicated IT staff. In those environments, recovery solutions must be operationally safe, predictable and simple enough to execute under pressure. They also must avoid disrupting production systems during normal operations. ## The OT systems that keep the grid running In discussions about critical infrastructure protection, attention often focuses on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and distributed control systems (DCS). However, the PC-based systems that configure, monitor and support this equipment are also essential to reliable operations. Power and energy organizations rely on multiple systems, including: * SCADA servers and clients * HMI workstations * Engineering workstations * Historians * OT application servers * Substation control PCs * HVDC and FACTS servers * Distributed energy resource and microgrid controllers * Battery energy storage system controllers * EV charging management servers * Jump servers and OT DMZ infrastructure Those systems contain operating system images, application stacks, configuration files, historian databases, engineering projects and recovery images that are essential for restoring operations after an incident. ## Why recovery readiness matters more than ever Power and energy producers have traditionally invested heavily in preventing cyberattacks. Unfortunately, no preventive control is perfect. Hardware failures, software defects, human error and cyberattacks can bypass preventive controls. Hardware eventually fails. Vendor updates sometimes introduce instability. Human error causes configuration problems. And, of course, ransomware continues to evolve. Prevention is critical but not perfect. That’s why recovery readiness is so critical. Organizations that recover quickly can reduce operational disruption and restore services faster than those forced to rebuild systems manually. Recovery readiness includes the ability to: * Restore complete system images instead of rebuilding devices from scratch. * Recover to replacement hardware when identical industrial PCs are unavailable. * Validate backups before restoring them. * Support offline recovery at remote or segmented facilities. * Enable non-IT personnel to perform guided recovery when necessary. The critical objective is to return critical OT systems to a validated, known-good operational state as safely and quickly as possible. Documented backup validation, recovery testing and controlled restoration processes can also support audit and recovery-readiness requirements under industrial cybersecurity frameworks and critical infrastructure regulations. ## How Acronis Cyber Protect for OT supports power and energy operators Acronis Cyber Protect for OT is purpose built for industrial environments and trusted by leading automation vendors, where availability, reliability and operational continuity take priority. Rather than adapting an enterprise IT backup solution for OT, Acronis is engineered to protect PC-based operational technology systems with minimal operational impact while supporting the realities of industrial environments. Key capabilities include: * Low-impact OT backups that protect live systems without requiring planned downtime for many deployments. * Fast bare-metal recovery to restore complete systems, including operating systems, applications, drivers and configurations. * Universal Restore, allowing recovery to replacement hardware when original industrial PCs are obsolete or unavailable. * Support for air-gapped and segmented networks, enabling local recovery even where internet access is unavailable. * Backup validation and malware scanning to help ensure organizations restore clean, verified recovery points. * One-Click Recovery workflows that simplify restoration for facilities with limited or no on-site IT staff. * Support for legacy Windows and Linux operating systems commonly found in industrial environments. Those capabilities help power and energy producers reduce mean time to recovery (MTTR), maintain operational continuity and support recovery objectives without introducing unnecessary operational risk. Power and energy organizations manage more than just power plants. Increasingly, they operate renewable energy facilities, battery storage systems, distributed energy resources, microgrids and advanced substations connected across geographically dispersed networks. As those environments become more distributed, the ability to recover systems locally without depending on remote connectivity becomes even more important. ## Recovery is now part of critical infrastructure resilience Power and energy organizations need to be confident that they can restore critical OT systems safely after ransomware, hardware failure, software corruption or operational error. [Acronis Cyber Protect for OT](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cyber-protect-ot/) helps power and energy organizations protect the PC-based systems used to monitor, manage and control OT operations, enabling fast, predictable recovery while minimizing operational disruption. Want to understand the financial impact downtime could have on your operation? Try the [Acronis ICS/OT Downtime Calculator](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cyber-protect-ot/downtime-calculator/). Learn about [Acronis solutions for power and energy producers](https://www.acronis.com/en/resource-center/resource/acronis-cyber-protect-for-oil-and-gas-power-and-energy/), or [discover more about Acronis Cyber Protect for OT](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cyber-protect-ot/). [Cybersecurity](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cybersecurity/) [Disaster recovery](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/disaster-recovery/) [Operational Technology (OT)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/operational-technology/) ## Written by ![Image 3: Lee Pender](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/96b4b6d9ceee3c624b79f42543d1d633.png) Lee Pender Senior Content Marketing Manager Lee was a journalist in the technology industry for 15 years, writing for and managing publications that served both IT and partner audiences. His experience as a corporate content creator includes tenures with an MSP and a provider of tax-compliance services. He writes about a variety of topics for Acronis, including cybersecurity trends, MSP management, emerging technologies and product updates. [Previous post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/how-barrow-afc-modernised-matchday-it-with-commited-and-acronis/) [How Barrow AFC modernised matchday IT with commited and Acronis](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/how-barrow-afc-modernised-matchday-it-with-commited-and-acronis/) [Next post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/health-care-cybersecurity-threats-msps-should-watch-in-2026/) [Health care cybersecurity threats MSPs should watch in 2026](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/health-care-cybersecurity-threats-msps-should-watch-in-2026/) About Acronis Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. [Add as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=acronis.com) ## Related stories Want to learn more? Read the latest stories featuring this solution on our blog. 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The developments build on a broader commitment to managed security: helping service providers protect the connected workspace while giving customers access to the expertise needed to investigate threats, respond effectively and maintain business continuity. **October 13, 2026**6 min read ![Image 6: Acronis Cloud Storage adds a recovery warranty](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-card/6a693ef2012c6324f65b0b452c11b3d6.png) [Acronis Cloud Storage adds a recovery warranty](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-cloud-storage-adds-a-recovery-warranty/) Secure, scalable cloud storage with a recovery commitment backed by Acronis. The Anti-Ransomware Recovery Warranty that helps MSPs make recovery a visible part of the service they deliver. **October 12, 2026**4 min read