It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
This is not only a famous line from Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," but it could also apply to the modern power grid.
The best of times includes the fact that the grid is more diversified and probably more environmentally friendly than even before.
The grid is now made up of more distributed energy resources—wind, solar, hydro, and natural gas. This allows these resources to increasingly be called on when power demand surges.
This requires coordination, and real-time information and technology makes this possible.
These are the best of times.
However, these are in some ways the worst of times when it comes to cybersecurity risk for the power grid.
“Achieving many of these new energy capabilities requires more intelligent, connected devices. However, anything connected to the internet, wired or wireless, has a vulnerability, ” says Ken Boyce, principal engineer director, Energy and Power Technologies division at Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
The safety organization says when it comes to cyber attacks on the grid, the energy domain is the most attacked segment in infrastructure, and attacks are expected to occur with more frequency in the future.
"Almost all our critical infrastructure is dependent on electricity, and losing electrical power can cause massive, amplified implications for cities," UL said in a special report on mitigating cyber risk for the grid.
The report ended with a call to action from UL's Ken Boyce.
"... now is the time for cross-functional collaboration to build a new grid that delivers the benefits of new technology, but is also robust and hardened.”
