BRIDGE Energy Group has announced results from the company’s 2018 BRIDGE Index Utility Industry Grid Security Survey. Reaching more than 20,000 utility executives, managers and engineers in North America, the latest survey reveals that three of the top four skills gaps are related to security and that 47% of utility companies have major compliance projects planned for the next 24 months -- up 28% from last year’s survey. Skills gaps likely to impact project schedules and potentially expose weak spots to be exploited. Download the survey results here: http://bit.ly/BRGridSec
The annual survey is one of the most trusted industry benchmarks that document how utility companies in North America are addressing many areas that could impact national security. This year, the survey also uncovered that many utilities may be overly reliant on NERC CIP compliance requirements for assessing risk to real-time operations. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents indicated they are not using a complete and reliable method but may think they are.
“As the utility industry extends connection to intelligent electronic devices such as inverters out to the grid edge, the complexities in securing operations from an ever-growing volume of users and devices increases,” said Richard Jones, VP, BRIDGE Energy Group. “To reduce risk, it is important, perhaps even essential that utilities optimize their cybersecurity and CIP compliance operations.”
