With rising energy demands, the rapid adoption of renewable energy, and the growing frequency of severe weather events, utility companies around the globe are under mounting pressure to upgrade and modernize their grid infrastructure. This modernization is crucial not only to ensure uninterrupted power delivery but also to maintain public safety and economic stability. However, as power substations, distribution automation equipment, and renewable energy facilities become more interconnected, cyber threats grow in scale and sophistication.
To address these challenges, utilities must adopt a cyber-resilient approach to their grid infrastructure. Cisco, with over 20 years of experience helping utilities digitize operations, has identified four key principles to build a secure and resilient energy grid.
Step 1: Fuse cybersecurity into the network
Simplify security operations and reduce costs by building security constructs within networking equipment instead of multiplying point products. Build a WAN infrastructure that is secure by design and can evolve with your needs.
Modernizing the grid requires advanced and reliable networking solutions that can scale. From urban areas to remote rural locations, the network must connect tens of thousands of widely dispersed smart grid devices, using whatever backhaul technology is available at each location today and evolve when new ones are deployed. Because grid assets are so numerous, widely dispersed, and sometimes installed in small cabinets where space can be an issue, security needs to be fused into the network, not bolted on.
To accommodate evolving connectivity needs, industrial routers with modular WAN interfaces allow seamless transitions between technologies such as all the flavors of 4G/LTE or 5G including both private and public. Additionally, ruggedized switches and routers with industrial certifications such as IEC 62443-4-1 and IEC 61850-3 ensure safe deployment in demanding utility environments.
In addition to advanced and future-proof networking, routers connecting your critical grid assets should embed these cybersecurity capabilities to eliminate the need of deploying additional appliances in hard-to-reach remote locations:
- Application layer firewall: Cisco Industrial Routers are equipped with a stateful firewall featuring application recognition, which empowers utilities to enhance network security by segmenting the network into zones and defining detailed policies to govern traffic flow between those zones. This level of control provides flexibility and precision in traffic management and security enforcement.
- Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs): To expand upon the stateful firewall capabilities, Cisco Industrial Routers embed the advanced threat protection that is essential for protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring reliable power delivery in a digitized utility environment. Key capabilities include:
- Snort intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) to detect and block malicious activities by analyzing network traffic. It leverages threat intelligence from Cisco Talos to stay current on zero-day vulnerabilities and new attack tactics.
- Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) to continuously analyze file activity across your OT network and quickly detect, contain, and remove advanced malware.
Learn more about Cisco Industrial Routers and how they offer advanced network security features, along with state-of-the-art WAN networking and unique modular capabilities.
Step 2: Restrict what can physically connect to your field network
Because your grid network is deployed in locations that can be difficult to control, you need robust security, starting where grid assets physically connect. Securing every port of your field networking equipment is key. Zero-trust security principles must be implemented to ensure that bad actors cannot connect to your network in case they gain access to the cabinets where your networking equipment is installed.
Cisco Industrial Routers enables administrators to restrict which endpoints are allowed to access a network port based on their MAC addresses. Using Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) you can easily manage asset identities and security policies at scale so every port of your field network infrastructure is secured.
Step 3: Segment networks to minimize risk
Once a device is granted access, you need to ensure that it communicates only with the resources it needs to do its job. Not all devices within a substation or a renewable production site need to communicate with one another. By limiting communication to only what is necessary for each device’s function, utilities can significantly reduce the impact of potential breaches.
Benefits of network segmentation:
- Isolate critical systems, such as power distribution controllers, from less sensitive systems like video surveillance.
- Prevent malicious traffic from spreading across the network.
- Minimize the disruption caused by a compromised device.
Segmentation creates a “defense-in-depth” approach, ensuring that even if one part of the network is compromised, the rest remains secure. Cisco Industrial Routers can protect critical assets by segmenting traffic flows into separated virtual networks. Security managers can define network segments that need to be isolated using Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) to start enforcing segmentation policies at scale.
Step 4. Simplify network and security operations with centralized orchestration and automation
The distributed nature of a grid infrastructure requires a complex network spanning multiple locations. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager with Cisco Industrial Routers is ideally suited for these demanding requirements. It combines enterprise-grade performance and security with industrial-strength reliability and resilience.
Catalyst SD-WAN Manager centralizes routers and security configuration to unify security policies, eliminate gaps in defense, and simplify deploying and managing your grid network infrastructure at scale. It offers automation and orchestration capabilities to streamline network operations by reducing the need for manual device configuration, accelerating deployment times, and ensuring consistent policy enforcement. It also supports automated VPN provisioning, security key management, and tunnel provisioning at scale, which are critical for large-scale utility networks.
Conclusion:
To overcome the constraints of the modern energy market, utilities must prioritize cybersecurity as a foundational element of grid modernization. A cyber-resilient grid relies on these core principles:
- Fuse cybersecurity into the network – no additional hardware required.
- Restrict what can physically connect to your field network.
- Segment the network to minimize risk.
- Centralize and automate network deployment and security management
We can help you build a cyber-resilient grid with our Cisco Validated Design blueprints, these solutions enable reliable and simplified deployments. They are thoroughly tested for scalability, helping utilities build modern infrastructure while minimizing risk.
Curious about more details on how Cisco is helping utilities digitize critical infrastructure? Learn more.
