[Project Description] Energy Sector Asset Management: For Electric Utilities, Oil & Gas Industry

Industrial control systems (ICS) comprise a core part of our nation’s critical infrastructure. Energy sector companies rely on ICS to generate, transmit, and distribute power and to drill, produce, refine, and transport oil and natural gas. There are a wide variety of ICS assets, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), that provide command and control information and functions on operational technology (OT) networks. These assets are primary targets of cyber attacks. Vulnerabilities within these systems and devices present opportunities for malicious actors to cause disruptions to the power grid and to oil and gas assets and processes.

Energy Sector companies must monitor and manage ICS assets at all times to reduce the risk of such attacks. The NCCoE, in collaboration with members of the energy community and with cybersecurity technology providers, is planning a project to create an example solution to address this complex asset management challenge. This project will result in a freely available NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide that includes an example solution for electric utilities and for oil and gas companies to effectively track and manage their assets.