Increasing Security in Power Generation Plants: How can Europe Learn from US and Middle East Lessons?

摘要

This paper will explore the importance that Cyber Security issues are gaining especially in Power Generation plants and how they can be managed. A new variety of threats is emerging every day from different sources: professionals, rogue nation states, competitors, amateur hackers etc. Apart from well-known non-malicious incidents, the industry has recently experienced for the first time malware written specifically to attack the systems that control the generation process and threaten the availability of the power grid. Stuxnet, as well as other related malwares (Duqu, Mahdi, Flame, etc.) are examples of sophisticated zero day threats developed to specifically target industrial control systems. The reaction (at what is happening) differs from where the company is located: historically, United States are more sensitive to Cyber Security issues, and Middle East, being the primary target of such new attacks, is experiencing the same needs to be protected. Is Europe keeping up with what is happening in the US and Middle East? Which type of approach should the European players consider? Will the investment for Cyber Security have an economical return or is it just a “loss of money”? Many different drivers and trends have emerged in order to answer the above questions: this paper will try to help finding the right approach to the problem and best practices, keeping in mind the Power Generation systems’s value.