Technological advancement is essential in enabling simplification and fast undertaking of any activity be it production products or delivering services. The current innovations and advancement in technology is rampant to the benefit of communication which impacts all areas and sections in the global economy. With the rapid change and advancement in technology there are also risks which inhibit efficient use of the innovations (Govindarasu, & Hahn, 2017). The safety risks are the main inhibitors since they can be catastrophic compared to physical compromises in sectors for instance, power grid that is the main provider of electricity.
The North American power grid is the largest power generator in the world and with the increasing dependency of electricity energy in the USA and Canada, the government collaborated with the private sector to automate the power provision in the area. Since the power grid is dependent on both physical and communication interconnections most previous researches focused on the physical infrastructures as the main concern for the power grid but since the Ukraine security breach that led shutting down of power to about 200,000 people, there are more researches on the communication infrastructure that is more dependent on computers and networks to determine the most suitable way to enhance cyber security in a power grid (Govindarasu, & Hahn, 2017). The proposed cyber securities would ensure that government-provided service are reliable and are not vulnerable to cyber-attacks that are dear to the economy driven by electricity.
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Since there are many techniques of understanding, predicting, preventing and mitigating cyberattacks, the paper analysis the general reforms that can help ensure power grids are secure from hacking among other cybersecurity issues. It is clear that a power grid is joined to many servers, interconnections that makes the power grid complex in analyzing and determining the most suitable reform that the government can implement to enhance effective communication infrastructure. The paper proposes five steps that will enable changing the power grid into a smart grid.
Reforming Power Grid into Smart Grid
The first major step is analyzing the different cybersecurity issues from previous studies and understand the various interactions, coordination and how hackers identify the various vulnerabilities in IT programs. The gained knowledge will be important in understanding the various scenarios that can be vulnerable for instance, the current electric meter thus enabling the security needs of the electric meters (SGiP, 2010). The studies will also enable formulating logical reference models that is needed in developing high-level security needs.
The second step involves conducting risk assessment. The knowledge gained from the first step will enable choosing the best IT analysis system to use in the assessment of risks and determining the level of impacts any breach resulting from the attackers taking advantage of the vulnerabilities can result in. The higher the impacts the more the urgency to ensure that there are no vulnerabilities to ensure prevention of a breach.
The use of NIST framework and road map of the connections and interconnections enables designing of security architecture within the power grid that is from transmission, operations, distribution, markets, service providers among other interconnections associated with reliable power provisions. Since communication security is affected by confidentiality, integrity and availability, the smart grid will ensure that such issues are graded on either low, moderate or high depending on their impacts and addressed during the formulation of the security framework (SGiP, 2010).
The fourth step is dependent on the other three steps and it is aimed at addressing the high-level security requirements. Once the high risks or security concerns are determined, it is essential to determine the logical interface categories though analyzing the domains, information systems, network, actors and the requirements in communication that must be addressed to ensure adequate determination of the coherent interface classifications. Following the determination, it is essential to assess the risk by determining the risks main threats, security constraints and the issues that the logical interface did not address. The assessment will determine if there are compromises on either integrity, confidentiality or availability (SGiP, 2010). Once the assessment is complete it is wise to select the baseline of security requirements based on the logical interface and assessment.
The final step involves developing a software program that will be based on the baseline of security requirements, testing to conform the effectiveness of the program and certification. Since the government has access to skilled IT staffs and labs it will be easier to build a software that will address all the issues and implement it to enhance cybersecurity of power grid into smart grid.
References
Govindarasu, M., & Hahn, A., (February 24, 2017). Cybersecurity of the Power Grid: A Growing Challenge The power grid is increasingly computerized -- which makes it vulnerable to attacks and requires new defenses. US News . Feb. 24, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from, https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-02-24/cybersecurity-of-the-power-grid-a-growing-challenge
SGiP, (2010). Introduction to NISTIR 7628 Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security . Retrieved February 27, 2017, from, https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/smartgrid/nistir-7628_total.pdf
