Online Edition | Washington State University | Pullman, Washington | Friday, October 19, 2001

Grant Research
Schweitzer, WSU tackle 
power grid security
By Tina Hilding, College of Engineering and Architecture

Interest in security around the North American electric power grid has increased in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Because of the increased dependence on computer technology for communication and automation of electric power stations, the grid is particularly vulnerable to cyber terrorism.

WSU researchers are among a group that has recently received a two-year, $775,000 grant to improve the security of the power grid. Led by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory, with support from WSU and University of Idaho, project researchers will examine substation automation networks to protect control and protection equipment against unauthorized access.

"Deregulation of the power industry has made the computer security problems of the power grid more of an issue because more participants need to know what is happening at various places on the power grid," said Anjan Bose, College of Engineering and Architecture dean.

"We are teaming with SEL and UI to develop sophisticated software, called middleware, to better gather and disseminate this information for controlling the power grid while meeting security, timeliness, and fault tolerance requirements."

The researchers will examine communication in control centers and substations to ensure secure messaging. As part of the project, they will also conduct assessments of actual control center and substation configurations in order to develop a prototype of a secure information middleware infrastructure for power grid data flows.