NEPRA in line with its monumental initiative called ‘Power with Security’ hosted an in-house seminar on Cyber Security today at NEPRA Tower. The main objective was to create awareness about power assets of Pakistan among NEPRA Professionals on Cyber Security with special emphasis on protection of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system; a computer based system used for gathering and analyzing real-time data to monitor and control equipment dealing with critical and time-sensitive materials/events and then roll out the same initiative by engaging NEPRA’s Licensees and other Stakeholders.
The seminar was headed by Chairman NEPRA, Mr. Tauseef H. Farooqi and attended by large number of NEPRA professionals. The participants were sensitized about the importance of Cyber Security by Chairman NEPRA, Mr. Tauseef H. Farooqi. Managing Director, Hitachi ABB Power Grids Pakistan, Mr. Najeeb Ahmed and renowned International Cyber Security Experts from Sweden and Switzerland including Mr. Peter Kreutzer (Global Product Manager), Mr. Willem Groen (Lead Cyber Security Network Control/HVDC) and Mr. Torben Cederberg (Regional Sales Director Network Control).
In his opening remarks, the Chairman NEPRA, Mr. Tauseef H. Farooqi highlighted the significance of “Power with Security”. He further elaborated that the SCADA system is prone to cyber-attacks and not only that in any such unfortunate scenario, the Power Sector installations would not be able to control their processes both at local and remote locations but it will also jeopardize the functions to monitor, gather, and process its real-time data, hence, there is a strong need to pre-empt such vulnerabilities through introduction of effective cyber security tools.
Mr. Najeeb Ahmad, Mr. Peter Kreutzer, Mr. Torben Cederberg and Willem Groen briefed the participants about various types of Power Grid Solutions of Hitachi ABB and the Cyber threat protection used against Industrial cyber-attacks/vulnerabilities, the social engineering attacks and the differences in implementation of cyber security in such systems. They also put emphasis on the need of industrial security solutions, remote access, incident handling, formulation of an effective cyber security department and regulations so that the threats are handled effectively.
The webinar concluded after detailed Questions & Answers session of the participants with the Chairman and the Speakers.
