Improving Software and Data Security in SCADA Systems

To build a more intelligent grid, electric utilities must now construct a new architecture from connected, standard technologies. This smart architecture will connect SCADA systems so they can interact more efficiently. It will employ distributed monitoring and power-use optimization. It will also connect SCADA networks to corporate networks, wireless systems, and remote monitoring stations. Unfortunately, these innovations also open our key national infrastructure to easy attack. We must develop more secure infrastructure technologies. Real-Time Innovations (RTI), a top mission-critical, standards-based middleware vendor, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a key power engineering research center, will develop the security and networking technologies that intelligent power systems need. In particular, we will apply the best enterprise security technologies to the proven standard for demanding defense networks. We will target initial proof of our solution at the nation’s largest power generation plant, the 6.8GW Grand Coulee Dam, where the Army Corps of Engineers is already deploying RTI middleware. To ensure wide-area applicability, we will partner with the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA), one of the nation’s key grid control centers. Finally, we will work with the emerging North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) to standardize our work for eventual deployment across the continent.