PTI Local Government Energy Assurance Guidelines - Metropolitan ...

Direct Threats
The most obvious cyber security risks to an energy distribution system are those that, if not mitigated, could result
in an inability to meet customers’ demand for energy. For example, threats to electricity generation have recently
been in the headlines, with new details about the Stuxnet virus coming out regularly. The Stuxnet virus was reported
to have an impact on Siemens control systems and process equipment, which are used in some U.S. electricity
generation infrastructure.
In addition to generation capacity, the transmission and distribution system that routes power from the generator
to the users is potentially vulnerable to cyber attack. Misrouting of power, spoofed reports of power problems, and
other malicious attacks could result in inducing power outages where the system was actually performing properly.
In a worst-case scenario, such an event could trigger a cascading failure where one outage results in a power surge
that triggers a larger outage.
Finally, outages can be triggered directly at customer facilities. In some instances, these outages may be triggered
if vulnerabilities in remote management tools are exploited. This is worth additional consideration in areas where
smart grid technologies are being rolled out. Some early metering technologies have demonstrated vulnerabilities to
computer viruses. While significant resources are being directed to mitigating these direct threats, the possibility of
an outage being triggered at one or more customer facilities due to a cyber security weakness exists, and each direct
threat is worthy of consideration as part of the energy assurance planning process.
Ancillary Threats
While not as immediate in their impacts as the direct threats, ancillary threats are of critical concern. Examples of
ancillary threats include data breaches whereby unauthorized users gain access to personal or other confidential
information, which may include billing and account information or even meter data. Protecting all of these types of
data is essential for maintaining customer confidence in the power distribution system. In recent years, several States
have devised stringent requirements for protecting customer information and for providing notifications of security
breaches.
Mitigating Cyber Security Threats
There are a number of protocols and techniques for mitigating cyber security threats that may be appropriate to adopt
and address in an EAP, many of which are already common in the information technology industry. The first step is
to understand the vulnerabilities. In many cases it may be possible to develop a better understanding of the specific
vulnerabilities a community faces through dialogue with the local energy service provider.
Once threats are identified, some common methods of mitigating them include:
■ ■ Instituting access control policies: Restricting access to key terminals, files, and networks to individuals who
have the training and the need to work with those resources.
■ ■ Adopting security protocols: In some cases, failure to use industry-standard antivirus software and failure to
install security patches and upgrades have resulted in severe consequences.
■ ■ Monitoring systems: Constant monitoring of system usage and assessing abnormal usage patterns on
systems can help identify vulnerabilities and attacks before major problems occur.
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