Smart Grid Cybersecurity Issues a Growing Concern

Oct. 4, 2010 - PRLog -- Phoenix, AZ  – With the government announcing a $30 million investment into smart grid cybersecurity issues, utilities and regulators are scrambling to identify potential electric grid security issues, and develop risk mitigation plans according to a new report “Smart Grid Cyber Security” released by Energy Business Reports

Smart grid security threats can be classified into three broad groups - system level threats that attempt to take down the grid, attempts to steal electrical service, and attempts to compromise the confidentiality of data on the system. This report on Cyber Security and the Smart Grid looks at the potential security threats faced by the smart grid in the near future, and how to mitigate them.

“The development of technologies that can provide defense-in-depth cybersecurity solutions, and increased insight from private-public collaborations, will allow us to better protect the nation's energy delivery systems that keep our lights on and the power flowing," according to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in an announcement of $30 million government investment for projects that will address cybersecurity issues facing the nation's electric grid.

Threats include but are not limited to:
Scale
Legacy Devices
Field Locations
A culture of "security through obscurity"
Evolving Standards and Regulations
SCADA Security
Substation Security
Public Telecom Infrastructure
Network Management from Remote Nodes
Lack of Authentication
Slave Meter Data Tampering
Slave Meter Unauthorized Disconnection
Insecure Protocol Implementation
Firmware Upgrade Vulnerabilities
Input Validation
Employee tampering

“The communications infrastructure necessary to support the global power grid has the potential to be larger than the Internet,” says Barbara Drazga, Publisher, EnergyBusinessReports.com. “As we’ve learned from the Internet experience, securing such a large network presents challenges such as segmentation, identity management for a large number of entities, the management of keys for data integrity and confidentiality, as well as integrating multiple wired and wireless communications mechanisms.”

In this report you'll learn about the potential risks, and what smart grid technology and systems companies can do to prevent them.


To learn about Smart Grid Cyber Security visit
http://energybusinessreports.com/shop/Smart-Grid-Demonstr...

About the Publisher: This report is published by Energy Business Reports, an energy industry thinktank and leading source for energy industry information and research products. Details on all reports can be found at http://www.energybusinessreports.com

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Energy Business Reports publishes cutting-edge business research and analysis reports in the global energy industry including power, oil and gas, and renewables markets.