Grid Exposure To Cyber Attack: There’s Nothing Smart About It

If you’re worried about cybersecurity at your utility, you’re not alone, and you’re not worrying needlessly. Recent research published by McAfee found that 85 percent of utility executives surveyed admitted to large-scale denial-of-service attacks or infiltrations in the past year. Another study found that 76 percent of energy utility IT practitioners had seen breaches during 2010.

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The same two-way communications and proliferation of data-gathering points that make the smart grid smart also make it vulnerable. Worse, it’s not just intrusion; you’re open to control and disruption.

When government researchers conducted security assessments on SCADA systems, some 12 percent of vulnerabilities uncovered were on control systems. And, utilities are adding more automation year by year. Right now, automation now helps utilities operate more than 80 percent of transmission substations and some 60 percent of distribution substations.

What’s more cyber risks go all the way down to customer premises via the two-way communications networks used for AMI and the smart meters mounted beside customers’ homes. Many utilities think their SCADA systems remain isolated and therefore secure. Fact is hacking risks have increased with connectivity to the often public and IP-enabled networks that connect utilities with customers. Control threats extend into homes and businesses via the disconnect devices on meters and the household appliances connected to home area networks. These vulnerabilities will only grow in scale. Your security solution must keep pace.

Download the full version of Grid Exposure To Cyber Attack: There’s Nothing Smart About It (PDF) to:

Understand the access points and infiltration risks your utility faces as your smart grid evolves.
Discover cost-effective compliance measures, including NERC-CIP reliability standards you must meet.
Identify the security technologies and solutions that enable your systems to respond to unforeseen threats.
Implement the governance and training that will keep your people aware and empowered to thwart cyber attack.
Gain a cybersecurity solution that will scale as you introduce smart-grid technologies and devices.