Summer Quarter: Introduction to Cybersecurity in the Smart Energy Environment

About the Course:

With an increasing number of IoT devices being connected to the Internet, cybersecurity has become a vital requirement for the safe, reliable, and secure operation of those devices. Cybersecurity is especially important for Smart Energy DER device as they are connected to the critical electric grid infrastructure. Understanding the threats in the Smart Energy environment, the tools available to combat those threats, and how to apply the tools are important skills for successfully installing and maintaining Smart Energy DER devices.

This course will introduces participants to cybersecurity topics including the purpose of cybersecurity, the various cybersecurity threats, and how we protect against them. Some of the key components of cybersecurity such as encryption and the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) will be examined in detail. Finally, the course will analyze and apply cybersecurity specifically in the Smart Energy DER use case and the IEEE 2030.5 communication standard.

Course Highlights:

• The purpose of cybersecurity and the Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability (CIA) model
• Threats – physical access, logical access, communications interception, identity threat, Impersonation, social engineering, supply chain attacks, malware and viruses, unpatched vulnerabilities
• Protections – confidentiality, integrity, availability (access control and authentication), TLS cipher suites, data at rest, data in motion
• Public key infrastructure – purpose, certificates, operation, renewal, revocation
• Cybersecurity in the CA Rule 21/CISP environment – IEEE 2030.5 cybersecurity, threat models and security assessments
• Cypersecurity certifications – FedRAMP, SOC 2, ISO 27001
• Hardware based security
• Blockchain

Course Learning Outcomes:

• Identify threat models in general and the Smart Energy DER threat model specifically
• Classify threats in the CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) model
• Understand and identify what cybersecurity tools are available to combat the various threats
• Apply those tools to specific threat models like the Smart Energy DER threat model