When evaluating your security system, it’s worth your time to consider how it supports compliance with NERC CIP, the Critical Infrastructure Protection plan of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The 12 published NERC standards are aimed at regulating, enforcing, monitoring and managing the security of the Bulk Electric System (BES) in North America. Here’s a summary of what utilities should aim to achieve for each requirement and what to look for in a security system to help meet those requirements.
CIP-002-5.1a: Cybersecurity — management controls. The goal is to categorize different BES Cyber Systems based on potential impact levels to better understand how to manage vulnerabilities and protect assets while regularly maintaining and reviewing them. Look for a security system that can provide an up-to-date breakdown of all connected devices and their statuses, to simplify the review process and quickly identify any that require immediate attention.