Roadmap to Achieve Energy Delivery Systems Cybersecurity
September 18, 2011
The U.S. Department of Energy recently released a report that aims to help public and private sectors figure out ways to protect the electric grid against cybersecurity breaches.
Energy delivery systems are critical to the effective and reliable operation of North America’s energy infrastructure. Our way of life is made possible by a vast network of processes that produce, transfer, and distribute energy as well as the interconnected electronic components, communication devices, and people that monitor and control those processes. Today’s highly reliable and flexible energy infrastructure depends on the ability of energy delivery systems to provide timely, accurate information to system operators and automated control over a large, dispersed network of assets and components. This vast and distributed control requires communication among millions of nodes and devices across multiple domains, exposing energy systems and other dependent infrastructures to potential harm from accidental and malevolent cyber attacks.
Cybersecurity is a serious and ongoing challenge for the energy sector. Cyber threats to energy delivery systems can impact national security, public safety, and the national economy. Because the private sector owns and operates most of the energy sector’s critical assets and infrastructure, and governments are responsible for national security, securing energy delivery systems against cyber threats is a shared responsibility of both the public and private sectors. A common vision and a framework for achieving that vision are needed to guide the public-private partnerships that will secure energy delivery systems.
For the full report see:
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Energy%20Delivery%20Systems%20Cybersecurity%20Roadmap_finalweb.pdf
