As DistribuTECH gets underway this year in San Antonio, the focus will be on the lower voltage systems all our homes and businesses rely upon.  These systems are really important to all of us in order to move the higher voltage power from generating plants so it can be used to keep the lights on, run our refrigerators, and run our computing systems.

Just last week I learned about the importance of these systems when a combined snow, ice and wind storm hit the Seattle area and knocked out power to my neighborhood for 56 hours. 

But, another thing has run through my brain cells as I think about DistribuTECH.  What about the physical and cyber security situation? 

Well, we know that the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Standards 002 to 009 are in place and being implemented by those organizations that supply or could affect the higher voltage electric transmission systems in North America over 100,000 volts.  But, what about the distribution systems? 

Well, the distribution systems are not covered by the NERC CIP so there is no mandate to follow the NERC CIP for the lower voltages.  And there are no other cyber security mandates for the distribution grid – including the “smart grid meters.”  That said, however, there are the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in NISTIR 7628, Smart Grid Cybersecurity Guidelines – but again, they are just guidelines and are not required to be followed.

Anyway, for a Masters course I’m currently taking I prepared a white paper on U.S. electric grid cybersecurity governance and through some interpolations of current data, I figured out that almost 97% of the US electric grid circuit miles – from transmission to distribution – are not covered by any cyber security mandates.

This makes me wonder if we are protecting the transmission systems – the key 3% -- from cyber attacks, what about the larger part of the bull’s eye? Through our leading managed security solutions portfolio and professional security consulting services, Verizon is addressing security challenges for our enterprise and government customers.  We want to work with you to be part of the solution.

Please stop by the Verizon Booth this week at DistribuTECH and learn more about our security offerings for utilities, energy companies and enterprises alike.

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