Governance

Technology Platforms and Cyber Resilience

Digital Innovation and Transformation

Equitrans Midstream leverages emerging technologies to sustainably maintain, build, and deliver intended business outcomes. Through the use of various data and information systems, we are able to improve and expedite our decision making; manage and mitigate our tiered risks; ensure compliance; and advance our automated internal and external processes.

Our cloud-based productivity suite allows our workforce to communicate and collaborate from any location while securely accessing our data and systems. Additionally, our use of critical technologies, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and process information systems, safely operate our gathering, storage, and transmission systems to deliver safe, reliable, and clean-burning natural gas. With an emphasis on the use of technology for asset operations, we are able to implement predictive maintenance routines and reduce the total cost of ownership for our assets, which, in turn, increases the availability and performance of our pipelines and facilities.

We introduced our digital transformation initiative in 2018, immediately following Equitrans’ launch as a standalone, publicly traded midstream company. This two-pronged transformation approach included: a) digitizing our workflows and data to provide more timely, complete, and accurate information; and b) re-architect our IT infrastructure to take advantage of cloud and emerging technologies.

Establishing a technical foundation that would support our distributed work force and achieve our business objectives was paramount, and we did so by developing our cloud adoption strategy and embracing virtualization, hyper-convergence, and device mobility. Building on that foundation, we improved our digital capabilities by implementing a comprehensive cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Our ERP solution provides a single, integrated solution for Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources, and Project Management. Through a multi-faceted and streamlined approach, Equitrans’ ERP system is reducing complexity across the organization, as well as overall technology costs.

During 2019, we initiated our Network Modernization program to enable our cloud adoption strategy. At the core of this program is the increase in security, resilience, and performance – while at the same time also delivering cost-effective communication options. We achieve these goals by implementing next-generation firewalls and a combination of ethernet, cellular, satellite, and radio technologies, along with monitoring and management solutions to connect our assets that span southwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. The network’s innovative architecture establishes a distributed smart network with multiple high-speed Internet access points to deliver resilience and performance.

In 2020, we took the next step in our cloud adoption strategy by selecting a cloud computing services partner. This partnership increases our agility to react to changing business objectives, allowing technology resources to concentrate on activities that deliver the greatest business value. Migrating our data centers to the cloud will improve our business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities, and most importantly, also reduce our carbon footprint.

Cyber Resilience

Cybersecurity is a core component of our digital transformation. Our cyber program is designed to: a) establish situational awareness of evolving threats and vulnerabilities to our technology presence; b) proactively detect and respond to cyber-attacks; and c) leverage technology to achieve business objectives. Equitrans Midstream’s cyber philosophy begins, but does not end, with compliance. We build our capabilities based on relevant industry standards and continually review our progress to effectively enhance our cyber security capabilities. Because a cyber incident could have a significant impact on business continuity, customer relationships, and brand reputation – cyber risk is considered a Tier 1 Enterprise Risk; therefore, Equitrans’ cyber security program is reviewed and monitored by executive management, with oversight by the Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental Committee of our Board of Directors. Our full Board of Directors also receives periodic updates on cyber-risk management throughout the year.

Multiple security controls are employed to protect our systems, applications, and data, including next generation firewalls; strong authentication and access controls; and malware prevention technologies. Operationally, we continuously monitor for cyber intrusions, augmenting our internal resources and capabilities with that of third-party service providers. Our monitoring is informed by threat intelligence that is gathered from multiple sources, including the Oil and Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ONG-ISAC). In addition to prevention, detection, and response capabilities, we prioritize workforce training and awareness, which includes Equitrans’ employees and partners participating in annual cybersecurity training.

We understand that introducing new technologies to our digital ecosystem can increase cyber risk and threaten our business operations and data. We mitigate this risk by partnering with security experts from private organizations, industry groups, and government agencies to benefit from the latest threat intelligence. To determine the appropriate breadth and depth of our program, we benchmark our capabilities using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and the Oil and Gas Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (ONG-C2M2).

To ensure that our program is effective, we routinely participate in third-party reviews to maintain and enhance the resiliency of our system. This continuous improvement approach to cyber protection allows our program to be dynamic and adapt to the changing threat landscape.

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