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Utilities Don't Consider Security To Be A Strategic Priority, Ponemon Study Shows: Page 2 of 2

Utility and energy industry executive management hasn't fully bought into IT security, according to a Ponemon Institute survey of IT and security practitioners in these critical infrastructure companies. Fewer than half the respondents said that security is a strategic priority across the enterprise, and only 29 percent said that their C-level executives fully understand and appreciate security initiatives.
April 08, 2011

The concern with downtime was not unexpected, says Turner, but he expected a more vigorous response to smart grid security. Only one in 20 respondents consider insecure smart meters a top threat. "We hear a lot of concern on smart meters about personal information and tampering that utilities fear could occur," Turner says. "And, there's concern on the consumer side about personal information that goes out from the smart meter to the utility network about use of electricity."

The IT response to smart grid security indicates that most utility companies are not well-positioned to protect the smart grid. Only about a fifth of the respondents feel that their existing security control adequately protects against attacks on smart grid systems and meters.

Protecting smart meters ranked fifth among six security priorities, far behind the top priorities, protecting supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) networks and enterprise systems. About 40 percent said they had taken no new steps to secure the smart grid, while a third were unsure. Firewalling electronic access and limiting third-party physical access are the most common protective measures, followed by ensuring smart meter security monitoring of suspicious traffic from the meter to the utility and limiting access to consumer and energy consumption data.

The survey shows that physical security costs remain overwhelming, with budgets running about nine times the amount spent on digital security. Most utilities (about 60 percent) spend between $18 million and $40 million on physical security.

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