The European Network for Cyber Security (ENCS) joins Oesterreichs Energie, the association of the Austrian electricity sector, in Saalfelden to deliver its three-day Red Team/Blue Team training. That’s designed for energy utilities to boost cyber security skills and awareness, and protect Europe’s power grids.
As ENCS says, around Europe, trends such as the rise of the smart grid, electric vehicle infrastructure and smart metering are making cyber security more important. As electricity infrastructure becomes more connected, that brings challenges. Alongside new systems, critical operational technology (OT), which was previously analogue and unconnected, now needs appropriate security solutions and methods, requiring new skills and practices. Oesterreichs Energie members account for more than 90 per cent of the country’s electricity supply.
Michael John, Director, Operations at ENCS says: “Oesterreichs Energie has shown real leadership for the Austrian electricity sector on cyber security and we’re very pleased to be part of that. To successfully protect our power grids, we need to share expertise and collaborate: across Europe, across companies and across teams. The power of Red Team/Blue Team is it gets people from different teams working together – IT professionals and engineers – to protect the grid in a joined-up way.”
Launched in November 2017, the ENCS Red Team/Blue Team is described by ENCS as designed an open-ended environment, simulating a grid operator. Named Gridnet, the simulated company includes physical utility devices such as a medium voltage circuit breaker, routers, protocol gateways and protection relays. This is supplemented by a virtualised 40-substation network, a simulated grid environment and a SCADA network, to name just a few features. Two days of classroom learning is followed by a day-long live exercise where participants are split into attackers (Red) and defenders (Blue) to put their knowledge into practice and see if they can infiltrate or defend Gridnet. Visit www.encs.eu.
