Thursday, August 30, 2012

Cyber Security Of Power Sector In India

Indian government is famous for its knee jerk reactions. It always tries to cure the problem rather than preventing it from happening. Even the cure part of India government is far from perfect. In short, Indian government is neither interested in preventive nor a curative situation.

One such area that has been ignored for more than a five years by Indian government pertains to cyber security that is still an ignored world. Surprisingly, Praveen Dalal, leading techno legal expert of Asia and managing partner of ICT law firm Perry4Law, warned about this situation in the year 2006/07 itself but it seems the Indian government is too slow to react.

Another related warning was given by Praveen Dalal regarding the lack of cyber security of power sector of India in the year 2011 but Indian government again failed to pick up the signal. It is only after a massive power blackout that Indian government has woken up to the dangers of cyber attacks against Indian power sector.

The truth is that cyber security of power energy and utilities in India is in really bad shape. Now even the enquiry into the July 30-31 grid collapse has affirmed the opinion of Praveen Dalal. The enquiry report has affirmed that Indian power systems could be vulnerable to severe cyber attacks on a scale that can have serious implications for national security and economy.

I am not sure whether even this would be successful in waking up Indian government to streamline its power sector cyber security systems in general and cyber security of India in particular.

Cyber security challenges for the smart grids in India are not easy to manage and India is clearly not equipped to do so at present. According to Praveen Dalal, Power Grids and Utilities Cyber Security in India and their Challenges are not easy to manage. They require a systematic, dedicated and security oriented approach on the part of Indian Government. In fact, Smart Meters are becoming headache for power companies world wide, informs Praveen Dalal. Naturally, Cyber Security Capabilities of India must be Strengthened opines Praveen Dalal.

Keeping this fact in mind, critical infrastructure protection in India in general and cyber security of automated power grids of India in particular must be ensured with latest technology and international best practices.