POWER June 2012 - 36

CYBERSECURITY
■ Interconnected networks can introduce
common vulnerabilities.
■ Increasing vulnerabilities to communication
disruptions and the introduction of
malicious software/firmware or compromised
hardware could result in denial of
service or other malicious attacks.
■ Increasing the number of interconnected
digital devices increases the number of entry
points and paths for potential adversaries
to exploit.
■ Interconnected systems can increase the
amount of private information exposed and
increase the risk when data is aggregated.
Figure 3 illustrates the paths that malicious
and nonmalicious individuals may
take to initiate a cybersecurity event. Control
systems may be accessed directly or
through corporate systems. Currently, the
majority of cybersecurity events are nonmalicious.
Regardless of the source of the
cybersecurity event, the impact is likely to
be the same: destabilizing the grid in unpredictable
ways.
Developing a
Cybersecurity Strategy
To adequately address potential threats
and vulnerabilities, cybersecurity must
be included in all phases of the grid system
development life cycle-from design
through implementation, maintenance,
and disposition/sunset-and it must address
prevention, detection, response, and
recovery. Prevention is the first line of defense.
But because cybersecurity prevention
controls can be defeated, utilities have
to be able to detect incidents, respond to
mitigate damage, and recover systems and
data in a timely manner.
A cybersecurity strategy must address
not only deliberate attacks but also inadvertent
compromises due to user errors,
equipment failures, and natural disasters.
It also must include both domain-specific
and common requirements when developing
a risk mitigation strategy.
Cybersecurity Risk Management
Framework. The focus in the first phase
of a cybersecurity strategy is to develop
an overall cybersecurity risk management
framework. Included in that framework are
risk assessment and the selection and tailoring
of cybersecurity requirements and
measures/controls.
Typically, a cybersecurity risk management
framework is a high-level framework
that is common across the organization.
This framework may be tailored at lower
levels in an organization, such as for business
and operational components.
Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Pro36
cess.
One component of a cybersecurity
risk management strategy is the cybersecurity
risk assessment. Risk is the potential
for an unwanted outcome resulting from
an incident, event, or occurrence, as determined
by its likelihood and the associated
impacts. Cybersecurity risk is just one component
of organizational risk, which can
include many types of risk (for example,
investment, budgetary, program management,
legal liability, safety, and inventory
risk, as well as the risk from information
systems). Because the smart grid includes
systems from the information technology,
telecommunications, and electric sectors,
the risk assessment process is applied to
all three sectors as they interact.
A cybersecurity risk assessment includes
identifying assets, vulnerabilities,
and threats and then specifying impacts.
The output is the basis for the selection
of security requirements and subsequent
risk-mitigation strategies (security measures/controls).
As with any assessment, a
realistic analysis of the impact of inadvertent
errors, acts of nature, and malicious
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POWER June 2012

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