王聪生：电力系统安全及信息和通信技术的作用(英文)

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Int. J. Critical Infrastructures, Vol. 4, Nos. 1/2, 2008

Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The security of power systems and the role of information and communication technologies: lessons from the recent blackouts

Alberto Stefanini* and Marcelo Masera

Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen Joint Research Centre of the European Commission Via E. Fermi, 1, 21020 Ispra (VA), Italy E-mail: Alberto.Stefanini@jrc.it E-mail: Marcelo.Masera@jrc.it *Corresponding author

Abstract: This paper analyses the impact of information and communication technologies upon the security of networked infrastructures, making specific reference to the situation of the electric power sector. It discusses the lessons learnt from the recent blackouts, and concludes with the identification of the main technological security challenges faced in this field. In recent years, both Europe and the USA have experienced a significant number of huge blackouts, whose frequency and impact looks to be progressively growing. This paper shows that these events had common roots in the fact that current risk assessment methodologies and current system controls no longer appear to be adequate. Beyond the growing complexity of the electrical system as a whole, two main reasons can be listed: (1) system analysis procedures based on these methodologies did not identify security threats emerging from failures of critical physical components; and (2) online controls were not able to avoid system collapse.

Keywords: electric power infrastructure; security; risk assessment; control systems; standards; R&D issues.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Stefanini, A. and Masera, M. (2008) ‘The security of power systems and the role of information and communication technologies: lessons from the recent blackouts’, Int. J. Critical Infrastructures , Vol. 4, Nos. 1/2, pp.32–45.

Biographical notes: Alberto Stefanini graduated in Electronic Engineering at the University of Bologna in 1974. He is currently with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, where he is involved in studies on critical infrastructure vulnerabilities, and in the coordination of research activities EU-wide on this subject. Until September 2005, he was with CESI, an electrical engineering and research company based in Milan, where he coordinated research on power system security and diffusion of R&D results. His background includes marketing of engineering and software services in the energy sector, research in artificial intelligence, and design of telecommunications devices and micro systems. He is the author of over 30 scientific and technical publications and one book.

Marcelo Masera has been an Electronics and Electrical Engineer since 1980, and an Officer of the European Commission at the Joint Research Centre since November 2000. He is in charge of the Information Security of Critical Networked Infrastructures area within the Institute for the Security