By Jesse Berst

 

Larry Karisny is the director of Project Safety.org and a smart grid security consultant. Writing on the Digital Communities site, he describes today's security situation as "a lot of starts, changes, delays and even do-overs."

 

Karisny complains of the many standards set forth by NERC and NIST and other

organizations as well. "The cost and time of trying to become compliant with these guidelines and standards will put smart grid security years off," he warns. "The bureaucracies and oversight groups are becoming so numerous that large organizations can't get anything done and small entrepreneurs – that may be holding the solution in hand – can't afford the time and cost of going through the endless oversight, compliance and standards processes."

To help overcome the "smart grid security circus," Karisny makes these five suggestions:

1.     Don’t surrender to complaints. People are normally suspicious of change especially when it involves big business and big government.

2.     Remember you are your history. Electric power has a tremendous history of innovation with safety and security always the top priority. This track record should be leveraged.

3.     Expect the unexpected. Do not underestimate that you may need a complete paradigm shift to achieve the needed security requirements. Paradigm shifts are not always comfortable or easily understood but are sometimes the only avenue of doing things right.

4.     Know elements of victory. We should recognize the differences between government, companies and technology providers but never take a “are you for us or against us” attitude. People must work together, carefully listening with proper leadership in charge following the plan. That is when things get accomplished. That's when victory occurs.

5.     Don’t fall short of your goal. The naysayers of the smart grid think we can just stay at status quo. We need to focus on the goal and the tremendous benefits the smart grid will bring and address the critical security issues it now faces that could flat out turn it off. Like power companies did in the past, they simply need to step up and try again.

Is he right? Use the Talk Back comment form to share your thoughts.

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Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com. He consults to smart grid companies seeking market entry advice and M&A advisory. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the US and abroad, he also serves on the Advisory Council of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Energy & Environment directorate.

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