AST Magazine February 2018 final-feb-2018 | Page 22

Volume 20
February 2018 Edition
Managing SCADA Cybersecurity Risks to Electric Grids
By Paul Myer, CEO, Veracity Industrial Networks
Just before Christmas 2016, the Ukraine experienced a complete
failure of its critical electrical grid operations via a sophisticated
attack on its operational technologies (OT).
The result was that it plunged a fifth of the country’s capital, Kiev,
into darkness for several hours.
Multiple attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in the last few years
should serve as the warning for power utilities executives and
investors worldwide.
The intrusions were a red flag that anyone could be
next.
The Ukranian hacks, as well as its sophistication and computer
virus modular structure that infected the OT provide boards of di-
rectors a peek into what may lay ahead for them and the necessity
to prioritize cyber security.
Though attacks on U.S. power grids other developed nations are
expected, intrusion is not.
Facilities can and should take proactive steps to prevent what
nation-state and criminal organizations possibly consider the ulti-
mate prize: bringing a country to its knees via its power grid.
Soft Targets
The Christmas 2016 attack was not the initial hack on the Ukrainian
power arteries.
(Russian hackers have launched multiple cyber attacks in the past year on power
grids in Ukraine. Experts say a similar attack in the U.S. could leave people
without electricity.)
Approximately a year prior, bad actors had made successful strike
on Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s government operated electricity utility.
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