http://199.97.97.163/IMDS%PMANAT0%read%/home/content/users/imds/feeds/writersdesk/2001/05/30/eng-powerm-000001/eng-powerm-000001_151107_133_582877588924 Palo Alto, Calif., -- May 30, 2001 -- At the push of a button competitive rivals, disgruntled employees, or cyber terrorists could access and disrupt the intricate electronic systems that support today's internet-based economy. With current hacking tools, these intruders are able to expose the vulnerability of commercial and industrial business operations. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is addressing these issues with the Enterprise Infrastructure Security Initiative (EIS). The initiative is designed to support energy industry efforts to anticipate and manage the business risks associated with critical infrastructure protection worldwide. "The operating systems used in industry were not designed with electric security in mind, which exposes them to the dangers of deliberate tampering," said Joe Weiss, EIS Technical Manager. "EIS is working with operations and security organizations both inside and outside the electric power industry to better understand system vulnerabilities." Launched in 2000, EIS focuses on operation systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA) and Plant Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and their inter-connectivity with corporate business systems, offering members directed, collaborative sharing of technical information. "No single person or organization has all the answers," said Jim Fortune, Manager of EPRI's EIS program. "We must collaborate with stakeholders in the energy industry, federal government, and private sector to protect the nation's critical electricity infrastructure." A special workshop for members of the EPRI EIS program will be held June 6-7, 2001 at the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel in Nashville, Tenn. Participants will get better insight into the vulnerabilities and what can be done to insure the safety of SCADA and DCS systems. The workshop also features "how to" sessions on intrusion detection and risk assessment, and provides updates on current government-sponsored and private sector critical infrastructure protection initiatives and activities. For information, contact Joe Weiss at 650-855-2751 or mailto:joeweissat_private ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email isn-unsubscribeat_private
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu May 31 2001 - 02:19:07 PDT