Cyber Security and the Smart Grid George W. Arnold, Eng.Sc.D. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) U.S. Department of Commerce 2 Addressing security challenges on a global scaleGeneva, 6-7 December 2010

The Electric Grid 3 One of the largest, most complex infrastructures ever built “The supreme engineering achievement of the 20 th century” - National Academy of Engineering

Electric Grid in the U.S. 3,200 electric utility companies 17,000 power plants 800 gigawatt peak demand 266,000 km of high- voltage lines 10 million km of distribution lines 140 million meters $1 trillion in assets $350 billion annual revenues 4

The Electric Grid Today Markets and Operations Generation Transmission Distribution Customer Use One-way flow of electricity Centralized, bulk generation, mainly coal and natural gas Responsible for 40% of human-caused CO 2 production Controllable generation and predictable loads Limited automation and situational awareness Lots of customized proprietary systems Lack of customer-side data to manage and reduce energy use

Smart Grid Goals Enable customers to reduce energy use Increase use of renewable sources Improve reliability and security Facilitate infrastructure for electric vehicles 6

What Will the Smart Grid Look Like? 7 High use of variable renewables Distributed generation and microgrids Ubiquitous networked sensors Smart meters and real time usage data Dynamic pricing Energy management systems Smart appliances Distributed storage Bidirectional metering Electric vehicles

Smart Grid: The “Energy Internet” Graphics courtesy of EPRI 2-way flow of electricity and information Standards Provide a Critical Foundation

9 Current Grid Environment Legacy SCADA systems Limited cyber security controls currently in place – Specified for specific domains – bulk power distribution, metering Vulnerabilities might allow an attacker to – Penetrate a network, – Gain access to control software, or – Alter load conditions to destabilize the grid in unpredictable ways Even unintentional errors could result in destabilization of the grid

10 Threats to the Grid Deliberate attacks – Disgruntled employees – Industrial espionage – Unfriendly states – Organized crime Inadvertent threats – Equipment failures – User/Administrator errors Natural phenomena – Weather – hurricanes, earthquakes – Solar activity

11 New Risks Greater complexity increases exposure to potential attackers and unintentional errors Linked networks introduce common vulnerabilities “Denial of Service” – type attacks Increased number of entry points and paths Compromise of data confidentiality or customer privacy

Ensuring Security and Privacy 12

13 Smart Grid – an Opportunity Modernization provides an opportunity to improve security of the Grid Integration of new IT and networking technologies – Brings new risks as well as an array of security standards, processes, and tools Architecture is key – Security must be designed in – it cannot be added on later

14 Cyber Security Working Group Building cyber security in from the start has been a paramount concern Permanent Working Group –Over 460 public and private sector participants August 2010 NIST publishes: Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security –Reflects Comments on Sept 2009 and Feb 2010 Draft Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements Guideline includes: –Risk assessment guidance for implementers –Recommended security requirements –Privacy recommendations

15 Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security NIST Interagency Report August 2010 – Development of the document lead by NIST – Represents significant coordination among Federal agencies Private sector Regulators Academics – Document includes material that will be used in selecting and modifying security requirements 15

16 NISTIR 7628 – What it IS and IS NOT What it IS A tool for organizations that are researching, designing, developing, and implementing Smart Grid technologies May be used as a guideline to evaluate the overall cyber risks to a Smart Grid system during the design phase and during system implementation and maintenance Guidance for organizations – Each organization must develop its own cyber security strategy (including a risk assessment methodology) for the Smart Grid. What it IS NOT It does not prescribe particular solutions It is not mandatory

17 NISTIR 7628 Content The NISTIR includes the following Executive Summary Chapter 1 - Overall cyber security strategy for the Smart Grid Chapter 2 – High level and logical security architecture Chapter 3 – High level security requirements Chapter 4 – Cryptography and key management 17

18 NISTIR 7628 Content (Continued) Chapter 5 - Privacy and the Smart Grid Chapter 6 Bottom-up security analysis of the Smart Grid Chapter 7 – R&D themes for cyber security in the Smart Grid Chapter 8 – Overview of the standards review Chapter 9 – Key power system use cases for security requirements Appendices A - J 18

Further Information Web portal: Contact: – George Arnold, National Coordinator – – Telephone: