Why Backup Power Belongs in Your Security Plan

Backup power belongs in a business cybersecurity plan because your firewall and your door access system stop working the moment the electricity does. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and most of what gets published this month covers passwords and phishing emails. We work on the other half of the problem, which is keeping a building powered when the grid or a connected system fails. If you run IT or manage a facility, this post covers where power and security overlap and what you can check before the month ends.

What Cybersecurity Awareness Month Asks of Businesses in 2026

Cybersecurity Awareness Month happens every October and is led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance. The campaign started in 2004. For 2026, CISA is using the theme “Securing the Next 250”, and the Alliance is using “Don’t Make It Easy for Them”.

The Alliance’s theme frames online safety as habits people repeat in ordinary moments. Power fits that idea well. A site with no backup generator, or one with a generator nobody has load tested in a year, gives an easy opening to any event that cuts the electricity, whether that event is a storm or a deliberate attack.

How a Cyber Event Can Turn Into a Power Outage

Attacks on energy companies show how this works at scale. In December 2015, a cyber attack on Ukrainian electric utilities left at least 200,000 people without power for nearly six hours, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security alert. In May 2021, a ransomware attack led Colonial Pipeline to halt all of its pipeline operations. The company is a main fuel source for the East Coast.

Neither event targeted an ordinary business. They show how one network problem becomes a power or fuel problem for thousands of other organizations. The grid is also under strain from a different direction. Data centers and new construction keep adding demand, and our leadership team names that demand as the biggest change in the power generation industry over the last five years.

Weather tests the same weak points. During a recent high wind event along the Colorado Front Range, the wind itself blew for two days, yet many of our customers lost power for up to seven days because utilities shut off service to protect communities. Whatever causes an outage, the question for your site stays the same: how long can you run on your own?

How an Outage Turns Into a Cyber Problem

Most offices bridge short power gaps with an uninterruptible power supply, or UPS. A UPS carries equipment for a few minutes so it can ride through a flicker or shut down cleanly. It isn’t built to run a building for hours. When the batteries drain, servers drop without warning and network gear goes offline. Cameras and door access go dark right alongside them. Restarting everything can take longer than the outage did, and a site with no monitoring or door control is exposed in ways a hardened network never accounted for.

A generator covers that gap. The layered setup that data centers and hospitals rely on pairs a UPS for the first moments with a generator for the long run. A transfer switch senses the utility failure and moves the load to the generator, and the UPS holds the equipment steady while that happens.

What a Backup Power Plan Looks Like

Sizing comes first, and it starts with the electrical load on your site. Our team works from a one line diagram, the engineering drawing that shows how a building’s electrical systems connect, along with the total kW and amperage you need. Oversizing causes its own trouble. An engine that runs lightly loaded can’t get hot enough to burn all of its fuel, which leads to wet stacking, with raw fuel showing up in the exhaust and, over time, engine damage. An undersized unit trips breakers and shuts down on overload. Customers also add equipment later and find the generator too small, so we size with room to grow.

Altitude changes the math too. At a mile high in Denver, a generator makes less power than the same unit at sea level, so we size with the site’s elevation in mind. If you want a starting point, our generator sizing tool on generatorsource.com gives you a rough number before you talk with us.

Speed matters as well. For life safety loads, NFPA 110 sets the standard, and it expects the generator to take the load within 10 seconds. Many commercial sites aren’t required to meet it, yet it makes a useful benchmark for how quickly your power should come back.

Fuel decides how long you can run. One of our customers ran a large generator around the clock during the Front Range wind event, burning about 400 gallons in roughly six and a half hours from a 1,500 gallon tank. That is about a day of runtime, and it took an outside vendor to keep that site supplied. Natural gas units remove the refueling question because the gas arrives by pipeline. Diesel gives you an on-site supply that you control.

Maintenance Is the Habit That Gets Skipped

Batteries cause most failures to start, and transfer switch problems come second. Fuel is the other common cause, whether the tank is empty or the fuel has gone bad. Sometimes a customer thinks the generator failed when it did its job and a breaker downstream tripped, which is another reason a technician should look at the whole system.

We recommend replacing generator batteries every 24 months, even though a battery may last eight to ten years. A standby battery has to work on the one day you need it, and 24 months is where we stop giving it the benefit of the doubt.

A load bank test is the closest thing a generator gets to a dyno test. We connect a resistive load and bring the unit up to 80 or 90 percent of its rating, sometimes 100, for one to four hours. We watch temperatures and oil pressure, and we confirm the amperage is balanced across all three phases. If a part is going to fail, we would rather find out during the test, when a technician is standing next to the unit and the building still has utility power. It also costs a lot less to fix a weak part on a planned visit than to pay for an after-hours call and the parts that come with it.

Our technicians follow a 31 point inspection on every service visit, and the checklist is posted on our website. Most customers choose quarterly or twice-a-year visits. This is the same idea behind this year’s theme. A generator that fails to start is a predictable weakness, and regular service takes that weakness away.

Protect the Generator’s Network Connections Too

Many modern generator controllers and transfer switches connect to a network so someone can monitor them remotely. Control panel technology has advanced quickly over the last five to seven years, and it gives technicians far more information to diagnose a problem. That connection also adds one more device to your network, so it needs the same habits you apply everywhere else. Change default passwords, turn on multi-factor authentication where the device supports it, keep firmware current, and keep the controller on a separate network segment from your main business systems.

Ask your IT team to add the generator and transfer switch to the asset inventory. Ask your service provider how remote monitoring is set up on your unit and who has access to it.

A Backup Power Checklist for the Rest of October

List the systems that have to stay on during an outage, such as network equipment and door access.
Find out how long your UPS runs at today’s load and what shuts down first when it ends.
Ask when the generator last carried a full load. If nobody knows, schedule a load bank test.
Check the battery age, the fuel level and fuel quality, and the date of the last transfer switch test.
Add the generator and transfer switch to your network inventory and change any default passwords.
Write down who you call when the generator fails, and keep that number where the on-call person can find it.

Where Generator Source Fits

We sell and rent commercial and industrial generators from 20kW to 4MW+, and our technicians service them. Our branches are in Brighton, Colorado; Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida; and Austin, Texas.

If your site has no backup power yet, lead times matter. Manufacturer lead times on larger new units can run 52 weeks or more, so used generators and rentals fill a real gap. Every used unit we sell gets a 31 point inspection, an oil sample, a full filter change and a load test before it ships. A rental can cover your site while a permanent unit is on order, and our rental fleet runs from about 20kW up to 2000kW.

Start with our generator sizing tool to estimate what your site needs, or contact your nearest branch and our team will walk through your setup with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does backup power matter during Cybersecurity Awareness Month? Security tools only work while they have power. The month focuses on habits like strong passwords and software updates, and a tested backup generator belongs next to those habits. A cyber incident can cause an outage, and an outage can leave network equipment and door access offline, so a good plan covers both.

Does a UPS replace a generator? No. A UPS carries equipment for a few minutes and gives it time to ride through a short interruption or shut down cleanly. A generator supplies power for hours or days. Most sites that can’t afford downtime use both.

How often should a business load test its generator? We recommend a load bank test at least once a year, alongside quarterly or twice-a-year inspections. Sites with life safety loads follow NFPA 110, which sets its own testing and exercise requirements.

Can a generator be hacked? The engine and alternator can’t be hacked. A network-connected controller or remote monitoring gateway can be exposed, though, if it still has default credentials or old firmware. Change default passwords, keep firmware current, and keep the controller off your main business network.

How long does it take to get a new commercial generator? Lead times on larger new units from major manufacturers can run 52 weeks or more, because data center demand has pulled up orders. Used units we hold in stock and rentals can cover the gap in the meantime.