Energy system remains open to cyberattacks.

Byline: DR. SHAHID RAHIM

Pakistan's energy system, like that of most other countries in the world, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Such risks are feared to grow even more in the future, both in frequency and intensity, as information and communications technologies (ICTs) make rapid inroads into every part of this system. These threats demand serious and urgent attention from our government, regulatory bodies, energy sector managers, and other stakeholders because the cybersecurity of the energy system must be ingrained in its basic design and cannot be overlaid after its construction.

A secure, robust and resilient energy system is critical because it propels the wheels of our economy and enables the provision of other essential services to our people. The security of the electric power grid is of particular importance as it's a preferred energy carrier due to its cleanness, ease of control and flexibility to serve diverse human needs. The energy system is also inextricably linked with other critical infrastructures of the country such as transportation, communications, water, healthcare, finance and defense systems, and is essential to ensure their proper and trouble-free functioning.

For over two centuries, energy systems in most countries have functioned quite effectively and with minimal trouble or disruption. There have been occasional cases of energy system malfunction, but these were largely attributable to acts of nature, the use of energy supplies as political leverage or, like all engineering systems, due to technical faults. These episodes can only be termed few and far between.

Need of control devices

Energy systems and markets around the world are, however, in turbulence lately. A fundamental transformation is taking place chiefly by the society's growing concerns to ward off the looming risks of global climate change and other environmental threats to which the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other pollutants from the energy sector is a major cause. Within the energy sector, the electric power grid has acquired a central focus as it's believed to act as the main hub of most of these efforts.

Availability of inexpensive and powerful sensors and control devices, mostly ICT-based, are weaving a host of actors and functions together into a complex web of central power stations, transmission and distribution (TandD) systems, distributed and renewable power generators, industrial control systems...