Smart Grid Today distributes exclusive, distribution-side cybersecurity report for free

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Oct. 17, 2013 - PRLog -- ROCKVILLE, MD – Smart Grid Today published “The 2013 Fix” today for free, in recognition of the seriousness and urgency of the issues explored in the report.  The report provides critical insights on digitized distribution assets – plus a 9-point action plan to begin addressing "the weakest link" in US grid cybersecurity.

The subscription-based publication has taken this action with news it reported only two other times since it began publishing in 2009.  The report is a compilation of articles published recently as a series in the daily journal.

Progress toward the appropriate level of collaboration between federal and state regulators on cybersecurity for the distribution side of the power grid in the US is fragmented and does not match up with the seriousness of the threat, the report said.

An estimated 80-90% of the North American power grid lies beyond the scope of federal cybersecurity regulations. Compounding matters is distribution assets' slow but seemingly impending transition to an IP-based network. A smarter grid is a more vulnerable grid if cybersecurity is not handled at the outset of digitization, the report said.

Utilities, state regulators and the US government can act now to curb looming cyber threats to the distribution side of the power grid, experts said in the exclusive report.  The report includes a nine-point action plan to start understanding and controlling digitized power distribution assets -- what one of the experts described as a "very far-flung network" filled with "a variety of sensors and tools… that are relatively easy to climb up onto a pole to access."

Sources for "The 2013 Fix" included General Michael Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA); Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Carolene Mays; Curt Hébert, a former FERC chairman and former state regulator in Mississippi; Gib Sorebo, chief cybersecurity technologist at Science Applications International Corp (SAIC); Marzia Zafar, director of the Policy & Planning Division at the California PUC; Christopher Villarreal, a senior regulatory analyst at the California PUC, and Andy Ozment, senior director for cybersecurity on the National Security Staff at the White House.

Sorebo helped set the stage in the report:  “As there are opportunities for people to profit from manipulating the grid and as we get the smart grid technology out there more, we know that there will be more motivation to manipulate markets to take advantage of the automation to do a variety of things either through sabotage, financial manipulation or strategic gain -- so those are all coming,” he said.

Experts quoted in the report recognize securing the distribution-side of the grid will be an iterative process. So the report focuses, in part, on actions that state regulators, utilities, FERC and the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) can and should take this year to get the ball rolling. And it acknowledges privacy concerns and provides some suggestions for dealing with them, too.

Combating territorialism, vagueness

“It is clear that the utility industry needs to develop an effective and routinized framework for collaborating on cybersecurity,” Smart Grid Today Editor Brett Brune said.  “Our recent reporting on the situation for the distribution side in the US, along with our July webinar titled ‘Distribution-Side Cybersecurity: Where does the buck stop?,’ found territorialism and vagueness where eager cooperation and specificity are called for.

“But if you dig deep enough, there are answers to how to begin to fix the situation,” he added.  “After moderating our revealing July webinar, Sean Lyngaas, our Washington reporter, conducted extensive interviews with the speakers and other high-level cybersecurity experts to put forth concrete proposals that would vastly improve the landscape.

“Among them are adopting a 'business-case' approach instead of a 'compliance-based' approach to cybersecurity and applying lessons from President Barack Obama's executive order to the distribution side of the grid,” Brune said.

Concrete steps explained

“We have heard repeatedly that distribution-side assets are the weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity on the US grid,” he added.  “Today, we are providing for free an immediate action plan to help strengthen this weak link.”

We asked the experts in the report to describe what they hoped would happen next in the US to start taking action to address the problems detailed in the report and the webinar.

Smart Grid Today is selling a recording and transcript of “Distribution-Side Cybersecurity: Where does the buck stop?” for $49, at www.smartgridtoday.com/Distribution-Side-Cybersecurity.  Free copies of “The 2013 Fix” can be obtained at the same address.

ABOUT SMART GRID TODAY:

Smart Grid Today's mission is to deliver daily, unbiased, comprehensive and original reporting on emerging trends, applications and policies driving the modern utility industry -- in a signature format our founders have developed over decades in the trade news business, featuring highly concise and easy-to-understand news copy based on trusted reporting, exclusive interviews, informed analysis and strategic insights that our subscribers rely on to succeed every business day.  Smart Grid Today is published by Modern Markets Intelligence, Inc.

CONTACTS

Brett Brune
VP of Editorial
Modern Markets Intelligence, Inc.
888-907-1113
brett@mminews.com

Season Crawford
VP of Marketing
Modern Markets Intelligence, Inc.
888-678-4480
season@mminews.com