Cybersecurity Awareness in the Power Grid
We report on a series of interviews and observations conducted with control room dispatchers in a bulk electrical system. These dispatchers must react quickly to incidents as they happen in order to ensure the reliability and safe operation of the power g
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Abstract We report on a series of interviews and observations conducted with control room dispatchers in a bulk electrical system. These dispatchers must react quickly to incidents as they happen in order to ensure the reliability and safe operation of the power grid. They do not have the time to evaluate incidents for signs of cyber-attack as part of their initial response. Cyber-attack detection involves multiple personnel from a variety of roles at both local and regional levels. Smart grid technology will improve detection and defense capabilities of the future grid, however, the current infrastructure remains a mixture of old and new equipment which will continue to operate for some time. Thus, research still needs to focus on strategies for the detection of malicious activity on current infrastructure as well as protection and remediation.
Keywords Human factors Human-systems integration Cybersecurity Power grid Smart grid Cyber-physical systems Supervisory control and data acquisition
J. Scholtz (&) L. Franklin E. Andersen Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA e-mail: [email protected] L. Franklin e-mail: [email protected] E. Andersen e-mail: [email protected] K. Le Blanc Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 D. Nicholson (ed.), Advances in Human Factors in Cybersecurity, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 501, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41932-9_15
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1 Introduction Cybersecurity is a topic at the forefront of discussions and planning around the power grid and envisioned smart grid. The promise of a more efficient power grid connected through smart and self-regulating devices may come at the cost of increased exposure to external threats. The industrial control systems [e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA)] which provide the status of the power grid to control rooms can no longer rely on security through obscurity. Nowadays, these systems are more connected through TCP/IP connections, standardized through new technology, and less remote as urban growth brings human activities closer to substations. Early assumptions of security needs for these SCADA systems did not account for the impact of cyber-attack: SCADA systems were envisioned as secure by nature of their selective deployment and physical protection. Recent events paint a pessimistic picture that standard IT solutions will fail to provide adequate security provisions in reality. In the context of the power grid, cyber-attacks pose a dangerous opportunity for attackers to cause harm to both IT and physical systems. This harm extends to the large populations serviced by the power grid. Disruptions to service can cause outages, exposed customer data, and potential environmental or economic damage. Given this potential impact of a cyber-attack, steps are already being taken to improve security within the power grid. One critical aspect of these prep
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