Cyber attack protection for power network

To prevent cyber attacks on electricity network, the ministry of power is planning to set up a testing facility for power equipment before its installation.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is working to amend the regulations to ensure only tested equipment be installed in the network mainly in the distribution sector, said an official in the ministry of power.

Apart from this, the government is also working on stringent regulations to check imported equipment to ensure it is free from malware.

Earlier, several experts had warned the government about the possible cyber attacks unless their equipment were tested properly.

Recently the domestic electrical equipment industry raised concerns over Chinese companies bagging the contract for installation of supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) for power distribution in many states.

For better power distribution and management, several states are implementing SCADA.

The Centre has already taken several steps to make power utilities and key stakeholders aware and take precautions against cyber threats.

For cyber security in power systems, four sectoral Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) - CERT (Transmission), CERT (Thermal), CERT (hydro) and CERT (Distribution) have also been formed to coordinate with power utilities.

To share and analyze various cyber security incidents in the power sector, Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC-Power) centre has been set up. The ISAC-Power will be the common central information resource pooling and sharing platform, said the official.