In a recent book, journalist Ted Koppel claims the nation's energy infrastructure will likely be hit by a crippling cyberattack in the near future, but a top official at the Edison Electric Institute recently told reporters such a scenario is unlikely to happen.

Koppel's bestseller "Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath" alleges both the U.S. government and utility industry are not prepared to fend off a potentially devastating cyberattack by foreign entities, USA Today reported. Koppel is former anchor of the ABC news program Nightline.

The book was published in late 2015, but the issue of the infrastructure's acceptability to cyberattacks has gained renewed attention due to recent U.S. House and Senate hearings on the subject. During a recent conference with reporters at EEI's headquarters, Scott Aaronson, managing director for cyber and infrastructure security for the association, said the threat has been exaggerated.

"Part of what we want to do is interject a little bit of sanity and engineering and thoughtfulness into what can quickly devolve into a bit of a hysterical discussion," he said.

Aaronson recounted several measures utilities and government regulators have taken to secure the nation's energy grid. Among the steps listed were penalties ranging up to $1 million a day for utilities that failed to take steps to protect their systems from intrusions.

"I disagree with the premise that we would be in a situation where we would have to deal with a months-long outage that would require people to shelter in place," he said. http://usat.ly/1VHNe7v

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