From the ‘We Know Better Now‘ files:
The U.S National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) is now out with a draft of a 236 page report on smart grid security.
Is the smart grid – the effort to modernize and connect the global energy delivery system – that vulnerable? In my view, that question is not the point.
The way I see it, the efforts of NIST and others simply underscores how the world is a different place in the post 9/11 world.
When the original electrical grid was put in place, the risks from potential attacks were not as real as they are today.
The original electrical grid did not have to consider the same connection risks that we have today either.
With the smart grid, literally everyone that has power is connected to the same network, and every node is a potential access point. There is security in numbers in my view so that’s a good thing.