Developing Risk Methodology Within U.S. Smart Grid System

SAATVIK MOHAN

Exchange Summary

The lab I was part of was Smart Energy Simulation and Automation Laboratory and my supervisor was Dr. Mathias Uslar.

My project builds upon Guidelines for Smart Grid Cybersecurity, a comprehensive, three-volume report published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The primary goal of the report is to develop a high-level set of cybersecurity requirements that can be used by all stakeholders in the smart grid. My project addresses limitations to the report. I developed a methodology to define two risk formulas: one for the 46 actors that are defined in the Logical Inference Model and one for 8 categories that were created from 22 Logical Interface Categories. The goal was to create formulas using the most important components of threat, vulnerability, and consequence. Once the formulas were created and scaled within intervals that could be utilized through Traffic Light Protocol (TLP), they were accurately verified using Dr. Mathias Uslar's technical expertise. The resulting values yielded some unforeseen results, which can be used to begin a new conversation in defining cybersecurity risk with more nuances.