Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
These examples demonstrate the power of the smart grid promise of improved reliability
and system resilience. The potential of rapid fault detection for building self-healing
capacities through deployment of sensors and automation of advanced monitoring
components has great appeal. Chapter 3 provides more details on the specific technological
components that relate to enhancing reliability and resilience. Chapter 4 identifies the
actors most closely associated with increasing system resilience and reliability.
Improved Cybersecurity
Smart grid's promise of enhancing reliability is linked with multiple promises related to
improving security, particularly cybersecurity. Some smart grid enthusiasts make the case
that a smarter grid will enhance cybersecurity and therefore enhance the reliability and
securityofelectricitysystems(Kurada,Dhanjal,andVenkatesh 2013 ).Aswillbediscussed
in section 2.3 on pitfalls, some actors, in contrast, see cybersecurity as a significant
smart grid weakness due to the system's vulnerabilities to hackers or openings to outside
malware.
Some smart grid proponents see increased monitoring as a critical promise which
would increase system operators' capacity to quickly detect abnormalities that stem from
malicious attacks by differentiating between intentional and accidental anomalies. A
smarter grid could provide operators with early warning signals when security is breached
and allow them to identify the proximate cause of the breach. Some smart grid advocates
point out that the extensively networked system excludes the option of sustaining a
pre-internet electricity system. Although current electricity systems do not necessarily
include smart technologies such as communication sensors that could improve security
and strengthen reliability, current systems already rely on significant inputs that are only
available through the internet (Kurada et al. 2013 ). This means that the current system is
already vulnerable to cyberattack. One promise ofsmart grid is that it could protect against,
and enable differentiation between, accidental faults and nefarious political threats.
Recognizing that cybersecurity has become a rather generic buzzword, here we use
the Information Systems Audit and Control Association's (ISACA's) definition, which is
“the sum of efforts invested in addressing cyber-risk, much of which was, until recently,
considered so improbable that it hardly required our attention” (Barzilay 2013 ) . Within this
context, smart grid enthusiasts argue that the same electronic sensors and other intelligent
components that promise increased system resilience also promise enhanced cybersecurity.
This chapter provides additional detail on theft prevention in the section on economic
promise, and further explores cybersecurity risks in the section on pitfalls.
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