MultiSpeak, a software standard used by utilities worldwide, is now ready to test software applications for compliance with cybersecurity requirements. The launch of the security test harness marks a significant milestone: MultiSpeak is the first utility software standard to include cybersecurity as part of compliance testing. MultiSpeak is developed and maintained by a collaboration of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and the more than 150 software vendors, consultants and utilities belonging to the MultiSpeak Initiative.
The MultiSpeak security standards ensure that data exchanged between applications, either internally at the utility or with outside organizations, is secure. MultiSpeak developed the cybersecurity standards in 2013; the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel approved the standards in May of 2014.
To build and implement the MultiSpeak cybersecurity test infrastructure, MultiSpeak teamed up with Albeado Inc., a Silicon Valley-based technology provider for enterprise class security and risk analytics solutions. The testing process has been certified by Cigital, an industry leading software security provider.
“By offering a tool for testing software cybersecurity, MultiSpeak is both helping topple one of the barriers to modernizing the nation’s electric system and helping cooperatives and other utilities handle the convergence of information technologies and operational technologies,” said Jim Spiers, NRECA’s vice-president for business and technology strategies.
