Electric utility responses to grid security issues

This paper discusses the different initiatives that utility decision makers have set in place to address the vulnerability of the US power grid to physical and cyber attacks. One of the efforts to enhance grid security is EPRI´s Infrastructure Security Initiative (ISI), which was designed to develop both prevention countermeasures and enhanced recovery capabilities. To protect against cyber attacks, several organizations were also established including the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Process Control Systems Forum (PCSF). In addition, EPRI also launched the Energy Information Security (EIS) program to focus on computer-based security breaches. An industry-wide cybersecurity program alliance, called the PowerSec Initiative, was also formed to address the cyberthreat issue as it could impact electric utility operational and control equipment.