If you’re a distribution cooperative, you may think you don’t have to worry about terms like NERC, FERC, CIP, and self reporting to government agencies. In most cases, you may be right; however, not having to worry about something isn't a reason to ignore it altogether. NERC CIP outlines some easy to follow security guidelines that can improve your cooperatives security.
It’s that dreaded time again, your password has expired! So, what do you do? You come up with a new password, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. You have to make sure it has one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, a number, and a special character. It has to be at least 8 characters long! Oh, and it can’t be one that you’ve used in the past few months!
When I worked at an electric cooperative, I asked the question “How much harm could be done with SCADA before we ever even knew?” The answer I received is the same that most electric utilities answer. “Not much, we will just roll trucks.” The truth is that rolling trucks may get you back online if your SCADA system is being turned off… but what if your SCADA system appears to be on and is telling you it’s fine?