Fundamentals of Cybersecurity for Utilities
About Course
This Regewall Training Institute training course covers the fundamentals of cybersecurity applied to power utilities. Cyberspace and all it entails, including the Energy Sector, is no longer the same due to the threats of cybersecurity breaches. These cybersecurity violations have demonstrated that no system, no matter how carefully designed, is secure. The scale, significance, and damage of such an incident are vast.
By attending this training course, you will get a deep understanding of the threats and vulnerabilities that exist in the power utilities and analyze the role of cybersecurity frameworks to build a strong protection and defense system. The major cybersecurity incidents and breaches clearly indicate that the security of critical infrastructures in the power utility sector are more vulnerable than ever. Protecting Cyber-physical systems in the Power Sector requires proper cybersecurity governance and management best practices.
By the end of this training course, the participants will be able to:
- Understand the Utility Sector environment and explain its architecture
- List and explain how cybersecurity is applied to utilities
- List and describe the various cybersecurity management frameworks
- Apply NERC CIP to your organization
- Implement cybersecurity at your organization
Participants in this course will receive a thorough training using several techniques that include coverage of material, discussions, breakout exercises, videos, and tests. The hands-on breakout exercises will be performed in groups and will enable participants to apply the material to real-world scenarios with active discussions with other members of the group.
The organization will benefit from understanding the principles of cybersecurity in the Energy Sector, with emphasis on the governance and management aspects, and how these can be applied. The organization will benefit from this training course through:
- Enhancing analytical and problem-solving skills
- Understanding current cybersecurity threats facing electric utilities
- Learning how to analyze the cybersecurity of Power Utilities infrastructures
- Being able to apply the NERC CIP and NIST cybersecurity frameworks
- Developing cybersecurity plans, including those for monitoring, event management, and incident response
- Becoming adaptive and improving their cybersecurity while at the same time serving stakeholders and the public at the highest level
The participants will gain or enhance their understanding and application of cybersecurity governance and management.
The training course will be of personal benefit to delegates by enabling them to:
- Understand how attacks happen in the Utility Sector environment
- Understand cybersecurity management frameworks and design cybersecurity countermeasures
- Understand and apply the NERC CIP and NIST frameworks
- Develop various cybersecurity plans, including information monitoring and incident response
- Apply best practices of cybersecurity Incident Reporting and Response Planning
- Apply methods to implement cybersecurity management controls
- Recognize the need and benefits of cybersecurity management frameworks
- Understand and apply the NER CIP standards
This training course is intended for people involved in operations, software, services, Energy and Power infrastructure, IT experts, as well as researchers and consultants involved in cybersecurity, management, big data, communications, project management, and energy and power plants.
This training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals, but will greatly benefit:
- IT, OT, and Cybersecurity Professionals
- Operators and Professionals in the Utility Sector
- Process control facilities
- Enterprises involved in the design of Power plants
- Project Managers
- Technology Engineers, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), and Chief Information Officers (CIOs)
- Strategic Development Personnel
- Operators, Engineers, Managers, and Researchers
- Energy, Power, and Cybersecurity Industry Consultants
CYBERSECURITY AND THE POWER UTILITY SECTOR
- Power generation, transmission, and distribution
- The Smart Grid infrastructure
- Industrial Cybersecurity vs IT Cybersecurity
- Cyber-physical systems and OT cybersecurity
- Safety-critical and security-critical infrastructures
- Cybersecurity risk assessment and countermeasures
- Cybersecurity threats to control systems
- Current and future cybersecurity challenges for utilities
THREATS IN UTILITIES, CYBERSECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, AND FRAMEWORKS
- Introduction to cybersecurity attacks and defenses
- Current cybersecurity threats facing electric utilities
- Common vulnerabilities and consequences
- Cybersecurity management systems (CSMS)
- Industry cybersecurity frameworks
- The NERC CIP framework
- The NIST Cybersecurity Framework
THREATS AND VULNERABILITIES TO COMMUNICATION NETWORKS AND NIST STANDARDS
- Defining, assessing, and managing security risks affecting the smart grid
- Compliance and distribution systems
- Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities to communication networks
- Field maintenance and test equipment
- Wide Area Network communications
- Field communication with Internal IT assets
- NIST standards
- Existing standards and those in development
- Practical impacts on utility cybersecurity practices
THE NERC CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION (CIP) STANDARDS FOR UTILITIES
- Overview of the current version of NERC CIP
- Introduction and description of major NERC CIP standards
- Cybersecurity BES Cyber System Categorization
- Cybersecurity Management Controls
- Cybersecurity Incident Reporting and Response Planning
- Cybersecurity Configuration Change Management and Vulnerability Assessments
IMPLEMENTING CYBERSECURITY IN UTILITIES
- Internal cybersecurity strategy
- Steps to improve the cybersecurity of utilities
- Cyber Security integration across the utility
- Cross-functional teams
- Roles and responsibilities
- End-to-end cybersecurity from back office to core business
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