As the reliance on our energy infrastructure grows, some supporting assets are rapidly aging, necessitating technological (ICS/SCADA) modernization that increasingly relies on connectivity to increase efficiency and reliability and receive data in real-time for predictive maintenance, advanced analytics, alert monitoring, etc. This modernization opens up new vulnerabilities for systems penetration, cyberattack, and ransomware, especially when the legacy assets were not designed to be Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The stakes are high for bulk energy systems (BES), both generation & transmission, and their substations with legacy controls responsible for efficient operation and safety of both workers and surrounding communities.

So, what can investor-owned operators, G&Ts, and co-ops do? 

This session will present different connectivity options available for remote cyber-secured monitoring (INSM), exploring how most electricity operators can maintain low latency, and real-time operational data visibility for advanced analytics, modeling, optimization, and predictive maintenance while taking advantage of robust cybersecurity measures.

Attendees will learn from one of North America’s largest G&Ts, Basin Electric, about how some of their legacy turbines could no longer safely share data with stakeholders due to cybersecurity upgrades. They now have increased real-time monitoring capabilities within the enterprise network and can unidirectionally share data with external stakeholders without exposing new threat vectors.

Additionally, the speakers will present the capabilities of and use cases for small form-factor data diodes as a solution to establish a strict, cyber-physical, secure-by-design unidirectional data flow to enable a monitoring-only approach, sharing operational visibility with stakeholders (OEMs, vendors, partners, government agencies, etc) without introducing external exposure.