Cyber Threat and Vulnerability Analysis of the U.S. Electric Sector
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Mission Support Center
With utilities in the U.S. and around the world increasingly moving toward smart grid technology and other upgrades with inherent cyber vulnerabilities, correlative threats from malicious cyber attacks on the North American electric grid continue to grow in frequency and sophistication. The potential for malicious actors to access and adversely affect physical electricity assets of U.S. electricity generation, transmission, or distribution systems via cyber means is a primary concern for utilities contributing to the bulk electric system. This paper seeks to illustrate the current cyber-physical landscape of the U.S. electric sector in the context of its vulnerabilities to cyber attacks, the likelihood of cyber attacks, and the impacts cyber events and threat actors can achieve on the power grid. In addition, this paper highlights utility perspectives, perceived challenges, and requests for assistance in addressing cyber threats to the electric sector. There have been no reported targeted cyber attacks carried out against utilities in the U.S. that have resulted in permanent or long term damage to power system operations thus far, yet electric utilities throughout the U.S. have seen a steady rise in cyber and physical security related events that continue to raise concern. Asset owners and operators understand that the effects of a coordinated cyber and physical attack on a utility’s operations would threaten electric system reliability–and potentially result in large scale power outages. Utilities are routinely faced with new challenges for dealing with these cyber threats to the grid and consequently maintain a set of best practices to keep systems secure and up to date. Among the greatest challenges is a lack of knowledge or strategy to mitigate new risks that emerge as a result of an exponential rise in complexity of modern control systems. This paper compiles an open-source analysis of cyber threats and risks to the electric grid, utility best practices for prevention and response to cyber threats, and utility suggestions about how the federal government can aid utilities in combating and mitigating risks.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis (EPSA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1337873
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-16-40692
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Cybersecurity for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
Dragonstone Strategy – State of Cybersecurity in the Oil & Natural Gas Sector
Related Subjects
Grid Security
Consequence-Driven Cyber-Informed Engineering
Cyber-Informed Engineering
CIE
CCE
Cybersecurity Resilience
Consequence-based Targeting
Energy Transition
Integrating Cybersecurity
Cyber Risk
Cyber Supply Chain Risk
Cyber-Resilience
Cyber
Cyber Threat and Vulnerability