Firms to spend $21 Billion on smart-grid cyber security

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 05 February 2010, 18:22 IST
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Bangalore: As utilities around the world have initiated major smart grid infrastructure upgrades over the past several years, cyber security has become a critical priority. Pike Research expects that a total of approximately $21 billion will be invested in global smart grid cyber security deployments during the period from 2010 to 2015. Security measures are designed to protect the electrical grid from attacks by terrorists and hackers, as well as strengthening its resilience against natural disasters and inadvertent threats such as equipment failures and user errors. According to the report from Pike Research, the intense focus on smart grid cyber security from utilities, infrastructure vendors, standards bodies, and world governments is spurring a surge in revenue growth, and the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that the sector will increase from $1.2 billion in 2009 to $3.7 billion by 2015. "No utility wants to be the weak link in the chain," says Managing Director of Pike Research Clint Wheelock. "The concern over grid vulnerability is driving utility technologists to work closely with systems integrators, infrastructure suppliers, and standards bodies to develop a robust framework for smart grid cyber security across multiple domains," he adds. Wheelock says that this process has accelerated over the past year, spurred in large part by the U.S. Department of Energy's smart grid stimulus programs, the standards initiatives of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and key priorities promoted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Pike Research forecasts that equipment protection and configuration management will be the largest security category over the next several years. Among smart grid applications, the firm expects that the greatest investments will go into cyber security for distribution automation (DA) and transmission upgrades, followed by security measures for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) smart meters.