At the General Meeting of IEEE Power & Energy Society held in Orlando, Florida on July 16-20, 2023, Kate Davis, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University; Assistant Director for Education, TEES Smart Grid Center) co-chaired the Communications and Cybersecurity Super Session with Nathan Wallace, Ph.D. (Cybirical, GridIntel). Panelists were Mark Rice, Ph.D. (PNNL), Jeffery Mayger (PSC), John Wiltberger (MITRE), and Emma Stewart, Ph.D. (INL).
The top questions discussed included the following:
- Are we lacking standards in any particular areas where utilities are in need of guidance to implement practical cybersecurity regarding developing solutions using COTS technologies and equipment to solve real-world problems?
- With all the data out there including cyber and physical data how can we really process and analyze all that data without technologies like AI and ML and giving trust to that software?
- How can we ensure automated solutions especially AI will be safe against security threats before being deployed?
- How can we improve preparedness and cross-training with different roles involved in grid security?
- What basic features do end point devices on the grid (protective relays, measurement devices, etc) need to have at a minimum from a cyber security point of view?
