The service is expected to help utilities dispose of end-of-life electronic components in an environmentally responsible manner. It will also assist them in achieving compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Cyber Infrastructure Protection standards.
The service provided by Siemens and MPC allows electronic components such as computers for supervisory control and data acquisition and energy management systems, remote terminal units, protective relays and meters to be picked up at the utility’s site where a quick destruction is performed and witnessed by a representative of the utility. Siemens collects the equipment and transports it to MPC’s recycling center where the equipment is disassembled, sorted, shredded and ultimately recycled. Security and environmental controls are in place throughout the process, and the heuristic recycling process is completed when all possible minerals are recovered. Nothing goes to a landfill.
Paul Skare, director of cyber security at Siemens Energy, said: “There are many documented cases of hackers recovering critical information from discarded computer equipment and using it to break into systems. This partnership will ensure that no one can recover information from memory devices and use the information to attack our energy infrastructure. MPC provides best-in-class electronics recycling with secure destruction of all storage devices, as well as the tracking and auditing that meet utilities’ needs. We’re especially pleased that MPC helps us to provide a necessary service in an environmentally responsible way.”
Todd Schachtman, president of global business development at MPC, said: “The electronics recycling industry has come a long way in the last few years. It’s no longer just about recycling electronics efficiently, it is about providing companies with peace of mind that their often highly sensitive data has been destroyed to the highest possible governmental standards and in a way that doesn’t damage the environment. At MPC we’re dedicated to helping our customers go about their daily and future business worry-free when it comes to everything from absolute data privacy to being responsible corporate citizens.”
