Hall of Fame – Grid Cybersecurity Architect and Enforcer Patrick Miller
Hall of Fame – Grid Cybersecurity Architect and Enforcer Patrick Miller
Publish Date: 2026-02-22 10:48:00
Source Domain: industrialcyber.co
In the latest edition of the Industrial Cyber Hall of Fame series, we are speaking with Patrick Miller, one of the early and primary trailblazers in critical infrastructure protection and grid cybersecurity. Miller had long ago turned cybersecurity of these critical systems into a personal mission, actively working in the trenches of ICS (industrial control system) defense long before grid security was a boardroom dictate or a geopolitical tinderbox, helping define what it means to secure the systems that hold national and economic stability.
As president and CEO of Ampyx Cyber, Miller has been advising utilities and regulators for decades on how the power sector manages cyber risk. Presently, he advises utilities, regulators, and critical infrastructure operators worldwide on securing OT (operational technology) and ICS (industrial control systems) in environments where failure is not theoretical but consequential.
Few leaders have influenced both the rulebook and the real-world defense of the grid as directly as Miller. He was among the original architects of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards and later became the first federal delegated auditor to enforce them, turning cybersecurity from policy guidance into binding operational discipline for the grid.
For more than three decades, Miller has shaped the evolution of industrial cybersecurity at the highest levels of policy, regulation, and operational practice. He began in telecommunications in the 1980s before moving into IT management and specializing in cybersecurity. He led energy and utility security consulting at Breakwater Security Associates, then oversaw enterprise and ICS cybersecurity and NERC CIP compliance at PacifiCorp. He later managed CIP audits and investigations at the Western Electricity Coordinating Council under NERC authority, before returning to industry to lead NERC CIP compliance…
