Securing the electric power infrastructure

Smarter electrical power systems—which include the addition of local intelligence in transmission and distribution substations, intelligent electrical devices, and computerized control systems in generating plants—collectively provide additional resilience in the electricity production and consumption chain. As part of national critical infrastructure, this set of computing and network capabilities requires careful thought regarding cybersecurity as part of the overall system architecture and development. This paper provides a summary of current security engineering in the power system. Further, it addresses recent project developments from IBM on security of the electrical infrastructure. The real-time and distributed nature of the power grid is unique in its breadth of potential security issues. Actions from the U.S. Federal Government, beginning in 1996 and more recently in 2012, to identify the energy industry as the most popular threat target and thus encourage appropriate security practices testify to the importance of grid security. The European Union has reacted similarly. In this paper, we also provide a discussion of the resilience of the grid from a reliability perspective, as well as maintaining the physical security of electrical grid equipment.