Cybersecurity: Plugging smart grid weaknesses
Power companies are increasingly upgrading to smart grids—national or state-based intelligent computer systems that collect information from consumers and suppliers in order to automatically improve the grid's efficiency and reliability. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States has produced a set of cybersecurity guidelines, called NISTIR 7628, for smart grid programmers across the globe. However, Aldar Chan and Jianying Zhou at the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore point out that, although the guidelines are comprehensive, they lack standardized instructions for scenarios that may arise with new technologies such as electric vehicles. Chan and Zhou have also identified two key weaknesses within NISTIR 7628.