Multi-party Access Management for Contingency Operations

During contingency operations the workforce can be made up of auxiliary (crews from other utilities) making the access control for various DCS and ICS devices inefficient or not probable when time is of the essence. Xage Security Fabric provides a multi-vendor security fabric for role-based access control for connected grid infrastructure (RTUs, automated switches and relays) saving time and money for IT, OT administrators, and field technicians while also providing a higher level of protection against a cyberattack or potential compromise. The Xage Security Fabric is an overlay to the utility’s or vendors security and operational infrastructure and provides unified identity based access management by synthesizing security policies centrally while distributing the enforcement functions at the industrial edge. This end to end zero trust methodology allows near real-time policy updates allowing operations to onboard crews from other utilities who need local login access for restoration efforts. With this approach, credential management and authentication is managed and enforced in the fabric instead of the various field laptops and eliminates poor security practices associated with unmanaged credentials or open access to last mile grid devices. Demonstrate an identity based security fabric for unified access control that provides a central policy manager and decentralized enforcement for unified access management and authentication. Develop a secure communication subsystem fabric endpoint with the ability to receive and securely store credentials at the infrastructure edge (pole mounted devices) enabling field technician (inclusive of auxiliary crews) secure access and audits. The benefit of this project is significant across a number of stakeholder groups, including the overall public. Utilities will be able to adopt a zero trust OT model to manage security enforcement controls across the entire distribution grid infrastructure and enforce access control policies consistently which creates a more cyber resilient grid. The security fabric concept for OT will allow utilities to provide more cost effective protection to their infrastructure in a way that still allows for choice in suppliers, reduction in IT infrastructure, capital and operational expenditures allowing for increased investment in modernization efforts for the overall public.