DAYTON, Ohio -- Research at the Air Force Institute of Technology is serving the Electric Grid Vulnerability Task Force. The task force was set up to look for weakness, and better protect and defend our national power grid.

On Aug. 14, 2003 the lights went out for more than 50 million people in a massive blackout.

Five years later, the Electric Grid Vulnerability Task Force was formed.

“It’s kind of a conglomeration of different federal agencies that have a vested interest in the security of the national power grid,” said Bryan Cooper, electrical coursework director at AFIT.

The federal agencies involved in the task force have been searching for gaps in our nation’s power grid that could potentially lead to future blackouts.

“You can think of the power grid as one of the largest man-made machines,” said Cooper. “It stretches from the Northwestern tips of Canada, all the way down to the Southern tip of Florida.”

Everything in the power grid is connected, which makes it highly vulnerable.

“If we lose our power, then it’s going to affect more than just you being able to turn on your microwave at home,” said Cooper.

It would affect critical infrastructures that make the nation run.

Now that much of the national power grid is running through the Internet, it’s becoming even more vulnerable.

“Through the Internet, one of these systems, if left unprotected, can leave a window or a door open for a possibility to cyber attack,” said Juan Lopez Jr., a research engineer for AFIT Center for Cyberspace Research.

Lopez and other researchers at AFIT, along with members of the Electric Grid Vulnerability Task Force, are working to prevent these attacks.

“We’re looking at trying to make a more secure cyberspace,” said Cooper.

They’re also focusing on educational efforts to keep another massive blackout from leaving Americans in the dark.