Influence Of The Power Companies

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Though they offer helpful guidelines, adherence to suggested standards is not the law. Utilities and vendors have suggested some practical standard practices, but they are not compulsory, so individual companies decide whether or not they wish to follow them. It’s important that utility companies and vendors be more active in collaborating to create standards and guidelines. NERC and NIST cannot do it on their own, though NERC can influence and ultimately define the default criteria.


cybersecurity-sis-market-research power companiesNERC’s drafting team is comprised of industry personnel, so it is a collaborative effort. These are the actual people with boots on the ground doing the day-to-day work, providing input to the standards drafting team. Many are members of the power industry which is very australia mobile number list free de-centralized. Companies in the energy sector have different rate structures in different states that affect their profitability and what they may charge for the services they provide.




When power plants need to enhance their cybersecurity, it requires a significant investment and someone is going to pay for that. A company’s bottom line must be considered as part of any cybersecurity discussion because it’s a business reality and there are stakeholders to be satisfied. Financial considerations may dictate whether or not security controls are implemented and this fact needs to be emphasized in any discussion about the adaptation of new standards and regulations.