Greentech Lead India: Cumulative smart grid cyber
security investment from 2011 to 2018 will reach $14 billion.
The significant increase in investment will be driven by
utility operation teams’ increase in cyber security tools over the past 12-18
months.
Smart grid technology vendors are seeking out security
vendors for assistance in building cyber security into their new
products. 63 percent of smart grid cyber security investment through 2018
will be focused on utility control system segments.
Control system security has begun to receive the
attention it deserves as a critical element of grid stability. As
utilities’ operations teams have become savvier about security, the likelihood
that IT security solutions will be considered as immediate fits for control
systems, without modification, has lessened.
The high profile meter hacks and daily new product
releases that characterized the field in the last two years. The Stuxnet
worm, which first emerged in June of 2010, seems to have fallen off the radar
for many utility CIOs and security managers. As the deployment of smart
grid increased, the cyber security issues are now more critical than
ever.
“Cyber security remains a check-the-box exercise for many
utilities, with spending limited to whatever is needed to survive compliance
audits. As some technologies, such as smart metering, near a decade of thought
and deployment, the approach to cyber security has become more
thoughtful. One thing, unfortunately, has not changed: cyber security is
still way behind the attackers,” said Bob Lockhart, senior analyst, Pike
Research.