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TCIPG Center Hosts 2 Major Smart Grid Events

Friday, December 10, 2010 - 10:45am

The Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIPG) Center in ITI has just hosted two major events designed to promote the study of cyber-security challenges and solutions among power industry entities and to disseminate information about new smart grid cyber security standards. On November 3 and 4, TCIPG held an Industry Workshop on the topic of “Architecture and Components for a Resilient Power Grid,” and on November 5, TCIPG hosted a regional briefing designed to familiarize Midwestern power-related organizations with new National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cyber security guidelines.

Modernization of the U.S. power grid as a core critical infrastructure is being driven by advanced cyber system capabilities on the one hand, and risks from cyber attack on the other hand. Stakeholders are concerned about those risks and view the need to incorporate resilience and adequate cyber security measures into the grid as crucial to modernization efforts. In fact, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently released a policy statement on smart grid technologies that identified cyber security as one of its key priority areas. The events just held on the University of Illinois campus promoted smart grid cyber security research and technology transfer, and publicized new technical cybersecurity guidelines designed to improve the cyber security profile of entities in the power industry.

TCIPG Industry Workshop, November 3-4

For the November 3-4 TCIPG Industry Workshop, leaders in the field of smart grid technologies from industry, national labs, government agencies, and academia were recruited to provide input to a discussion of challenges, problems, and solutions involved in making the power grid trustworthy. 95 attendees represented 68 outside corporations and other organizations, and another 70 attendees came from the five universities that participate in TCIPG’s research programs.
 
The two-day workshop focused on architectures and components for resilient power grid systems, including security mechanisms, architecture design and verification, component design and validation, technology development and transition, standards, and interoperability considerations. The workshop mixed formal technical presentations, panel discussions, and question and answer sessions. Invited speakers and panelists presented leading research results and engaged in a dialogue to address key challenges and problems.

“This was TCIPG’s fifth annual workshop on trustworthy systems for the power grid,” explained William H. Sanders, who is the Director of TCIPG and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. “This year we had a tremendous increase in participation. It reflects the growing national importance of this research area, and also TCIPG’s ongoing success. One of the major accomplishments of this year’s workshop was an increased understanding of so-called ‘Advanced Persistent Threats’ to the power grid, such as those exemplified by the recent Stuxnex malware. We also made tremendous progress in the exploration of new data sources in the grid that can help provide better resilience, analysis of architectures for better security, and enumeration of issues that need to be handled in order to achieve effective technology validation. We’re very pleased about how productive the event was.”
 
NISTIR 7628 Regional Briefing, November 5

The NISTIR 7628 Regional Briefing on November 5 showcased the NIST Interagency Report (NISTIR) 7628, Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security. This new document provides an analytical framework that can be used by organizations in the power industry to develop cyber security strategies appropriate for their unique situations. In order to disseminate information about the 7628 Guidelines nationwide, NIST has arranged for six of America’s leading smart grid cyber-security research organizations to hold regional briefings. The November 5 event resulted from an invitation asking the TCIPG Center to host a briefing to cover the Midwest region.

The 111 registered attendees represented 58 organizations involved in various aspects of planning, integrating, executing, and developing cyber technology for the smart grid. Their goal was to gain an understanding of the content and purpose of the Guidelines, which is now one of the most important documents guiding government, regulatory organizations, industry, and academia on Smart Grid cyber security.