Power Grid Systems ( Essp 2015 )

Oncor electric is a regulated distribution and transmission business of the private sector and owned by a limited number of investors. Oncors’ responsibility is to deliver reliable and safe electricity to the private sectors, so they can have the power to maintain productivity by keeping the backbone of our economy (oncor 2012). We are known as the “poles and wires” infrastructure company, we manage our business like the private sector does and our company invests in the latest technology and by putting our employees and customers first. When restoring outages due to large storms or natural disasters we respond quickly and safely to restore power to the critical infrastructure. Electric service providers are required to notify the Commission’s Emergency Management Response Team (EMRT) to be involved in the event of a major emergency and natural disaster that occurs such as hurricanes and ice storms (puc.texas.gov 2009). With the EMRT, they help to coordinate power restoration while communicating regularly with any affected electric service providers before, during, and after an event.

One of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) most important missions is protecting critical infrastructure. Assessing CI vulnerabilities is critical to strengthening their capabilities and ensuring resiliency. Since most of them are privately owned, the Department partners with the private sector in conducting voluntary, non-regulatory vulnerability assessments (“Critical Infrastructure”, 2015). According to Homeland Security (2015), vulnerability assessments are the foundation National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) which outlines how the government and the private sector work together to manage risks to achieve security and resiliency goals (“Critical Infrastructure”, 2015). Protecting America’s electrical power grid is especially complicated because all of the other CIs depend on the energy sector’s

In the event of a disaster it is highly likely that telecommunications and electrical systems could be damaged. All surviving communication assets, either local or state, will be needed for an

In any kind of a long term, power grid down scenario, you can be guaranteed that survival for you and your family will become the only thing on your mind. It’s also going to be the only thing on the mind for every other person as well, meaning that you’ll find yourself stuck in a torn apart and dangerous world where the rule of law has been effectively thrown out and everybody is competing with one another to survive.

Within the realm of open source information, a trove of resources are readily available delineating locations of individual power plants, major electrical lines, and sub stations serving the United States and Illinois. Most apparent is not necessarily the ease of access to information, but how piecing together the varied, disparate data can be used to create a picture that show location, connectivity, and potential vulnerabilities to national and state-level power grid.

The United Kingdom is in the midst of a power shortage with fossil fuels running low and the closure of the coal mines and ageing nuclear power stations. In the upcoming winter months parts of the UK are likely to have “power blackouts.

In the event of a natural disaster, the team will follow the company’s disaster recovery plan.

The NRC has issued numerous Orders to operating power reactor licensees, requiring them to increase security measures and capabilities in order to protect their systems and infrastructures from insider terrorist attack, airborne and land-based assaults. In the last decades, there have been a rise in the number of security breaches as criminal organizations and state-sponsored hackers continue to use cyberspace to inflict destruction and disorder in nuclear facilities. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, the nuclear sector began addressing cybersecurity regulations. The emergence of sophisticated cyber threats was also a catalyst for the improvement of cybersecurity and the enactment of stringent security regulations. The NRC, Nuclear Regulation Commission, and the IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, have been taking the

Our critical infrastructure is vital to our nation’s operations and any disruption to services can have catastrophic outcomes to critical components of our country’s assets. The private sector owns approximately 90% of our critical infrastructure and dependencies between systems make it difficult to show critical cyber threats within the United States. Threats between state and non-state actors continue to exponentially destabilize security and privacy. Although attacks to date haven’t caused extensive overwhelming disruptions, the potential is substantial. Antagonistic nations or terrorists may use cyber-based tools to upset military operations, networks, or other critical operations. Policy maker’s decisions have influenced protection of critical infrastructure key resources and the overarching goal of the NIPP is to build a safer, more resilient and secure nation by mitigating the threats of deliberate attacks by adversaries that exploit our nation’s CIKRs. Understanding and building partnerships between government, private, and public sectors, sharing information about threats and other dangers shall build stewardship to CIKR protection programs.

With technology corporations knowing the risks involved with cyber attacks, research and innovation have taken steps to prevent this apocalyptic scenario from happening again. The Department of Energy has created localized grids that are normally connected to our traditional grid, but has the option to be disconnected to support reliability and resiliency.[6] Microgrids use advanced smart grid technologies and integrate distributed energy resources.[4] At time,they can be used when there is a severe outage to offer local regions with reliable power even when a physical or cyber threat occurs.[4]

3. How is infrastructure protection (assuring the security of utility services) related to information security?

Today’s dynamic threats to American assets and infrastructure require the capability of security entities, at all levels, to communicate and integrate effectively. Critical Infrastructure (CI) is a key area that must be protected. This paper will focus on the energy sector and analyze: specific goals and objectives; an assessment of and analysis of risks; sector specific implementations of risk management; and measure the effectiveness of the current procedures in place.

The Energy infrastructure is comprised of three different segments, electricity, oil and gas; all of which come together to provide resources to other critical Infrastructures such as the transportation, communications, IT, finance and other infrastructures depending on them to function (DHS, 2016). In the U.S., we rely so much on the energy infrastructure because it helps us function and survive. We spend billions of dollars a year in energy consumption.

Many computer security experts question the possibility that the Internet could be used to inflict death on a large scale. Some precautions have been made. Systems have been established in the last five years, which aim at preventing a possible cyber terrorism attack. “Air gapping” has been established on all nuclear weapons, meaning the weapons are not connected to the Internet or any open computer network and cannot be accessed by intruders or terrorists. Still, other areas of concern include subways, gas lines, power grids and communication systems; which are owned primarily by the private sector and are managed by Internet enabled computer systems.

In recent years, hackers have taken advantage of vulnerabilities, such as weak or no system password, software bugs and configuration issues to attack critical infrastructure systems. A report on cyberattacks described how the critical infrastructure has been under attack: “In 2014 alone The Department of Homeland Security announced it would investigate the possibility that the Havex Trojan had targeted industrial control systems compromising over 1,000 energy companies across Europe and North America. In 2012, German power utility 50 Hertz was hit by a cyber-attack