Cybersecurity Awareness in the Power Grid

Conference · Sun Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41932-9_15· OSTI ID:1339903

Scholtz, Jean; Franklin, Lyndsey; Le Blanc, Katya L.; Andersen, Eric S.

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.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1339903
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-116614; 830403000
• Resource Relation: Conference: Advances in Human Factors in Cybersecurity: Proceedings of the AHFE 2016 International Conference on Human Factors in Cybersecurity, July 27-31, 2016, Orlando, Florida, 501(Part III):183-193
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English