SGTech Week 2023, Smart Grid Forums – w/Cybersecurity Focus Day
The 4th edition of SGTech Week, as part of the week long conference, geared towards smart grid technical professionals for a review of grid innovation projects in the context of increased regulatory pressures, intense cybersecurity threats, and rapidly rising demand for renewables integration – this year includes a full Cybersecurity Briefing day (see more details on this below)!
The event combines a practical workshop, focusing on one of the most crucial IEC standards for the smart grid: IEC 61850 for Substation Automation. The main 3-day conference opens with a morning of plenary sessions addressing the big macro issues affecting the Energy Transition, and then breaks out into three technical tracks focused on innovations in Digital Substations, SCADA and Control Centers, and Utility Telecoms.
The week wraps up with a future-focused briefing on smart grid cybersecurity, addressing everything from the threat landscape to innovations in prevention, detection and response strategies. This includes:
– ways the community can collaborate better by information sharing (info on threats, vulnerabilities, incidents) for better security and resilience (EE-ISAC),
– a Security by Design considerations presentation, looking on how to bring those in the everyday activities via the PEOPLE side of People, Process, Technology triangle, relevant Cyber Security Standards & Regulation including updates on the latest European regulation (NIS2 + CER + NCCS) for securing the power grid on a regional, national, and local basis, as well as implementing IEC 62443 in conjunction with IEC 62351 to fully secure the end-to- end power grid OT infrastructure.
– the current and evolution of the relevant critical infrastructure / smart grid threat landscape, and devising strategies on using the understanding of the threat actors and threat vectors to stay ahead of the evolving threats
– addressing the IT/OT merge and/or more collaboration, and addressing organizational design and structures to support effective collaboration and alignment of efforts of IT Security and OT Security teams and initiatives.
– looking into security legacy infrastructure, and implementing a secure architecture to protect the grid at all points of vulnerability (from substations, to control centers, smart meters and networks)
– building Incident Response and reporting capabilities, when it comes to segmenting the OT network during cyber attacks on the IT side (developing an IR framework – workforce organization, reporting, technical audits and utilizing preparation for improvement of the infrastructure)
– utilizing offensive information security lessons from assessing and testing the IT domain side, that can be applicable to securing the OT infrastructure side
Running alongside the main conference is an exhibition displaying 30+ suppliers of grid infrastructure products and services.