Background

Join national lab researchers, industry partners, and academia from the Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems Program in the U.S. Department of Energy’s bi-annual Peer Review.

Open to the public, this Peer Review will examine more than 30 DOE-supported or cost-shared projects designed to enhance the security and reliability of the nation’s energy delivery infrastructure.

Industry experts from the Energy Sector Control Systems Working Group will provide technical feedback and recommendations to each project to ensure DOE continues to support robust projects that meet industry needs.

Energy sector stakeholders from outside the program are invited to learn first-hand about forthcoming products and technologies from CEDS and network with experts from industry, academia, and national laboratories.

Suggested Attire: Business casual.

About Peer Reviews

A peer review is a documented, critical evaluation performed by technical experts who are independent of the work being reviewed. The peer review process is an important tool for assessing the U.S. Department of Energy's portfolio of projects by evaluating its goals, objectives, strategy, productivity, and leadership. In addition, it affords an opportunity for industry, national laboratories, and the academic community to network, share best practices, and seek areas of synergy.

The peer review provides program managers with high-quality technical input that can be used to make decisions, set priorities, and allocate resources. It also improves project management and productivity. The peer review process provides:

• The project team with an expert, unbiased assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and specific changes that would improve the project
• Public accountability for use of public funds
• A forum for interested parties to learn about the program's status and plans
• A forum for program participants to learn aspects of other participants' work that is not otherwise available
• A basis for identifying the most outstanding projects for potential recognition
• A basis for identifying the weakest projects so they can be improved or ended before the completion of the R&D cycle

Past Reviews

2008 Visualization and Controls Peer Review: Washington, DC, October 21-22, 2008
2006 Visualization and Controls Peer Review: Arlington, VA, October 18, 2006

Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (CEDS)

To reduce the risk of energy disruptions due to cyber attack on control systems, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) created the CEDS Program.

By fostering partnerships between the government, the energy sector, and national laboratories, the program continues to develop, integrate, and sustain control systems security improvements through next-generation R&D, vulnerability assessments and mitigation, risk analysis, and industry outreach.

CEDS includes the national laboratories that form the National SCADA Test Bed, as well as cost-shared research led by industry and academia.

National SCADA Test Bed (NSTB)

NSTB is a unique national resource that draws on the integrated expertise and resources of the Argonne, Idaho, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories.

This partnership combines state-of-the-art operational system testing facilities with expert research, development, analysis, and training to discover and address critical security vulnerabilities and threats the energy sector faces.

Industry-Led Project Teams

To accelerate the development of next-generation control systems, DOE awarded nearly $8 million in October 2007 to five industry-led, cost-shared projects through a competitive solicitation process.

Led by Digital Bond, EnerNex, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, SRI International, and Siemens Corporate Research, these projects work closely with NSTB labs and other private-sector partners to develop and commercialize tools and technologies that can make real and immediate impacts on energy sector Cybersecurity.

Academic Partners

CEDS funds innovative research from leading academic experts in the energy sector. In 2009, CEDS awarded nearly $18.8 million over five years to the Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIPG) effort to develop and integrate information technologies with properties—such as real-time availability, integrity, authentication, and confidentiality—that are key to a modern, reliable, and efficient electric power grid. The TCIPG team consists of professors, researchers, and students from the University of Illinois, Dartmouth College, University of California at Davis, and Washington State University.

CEDS also supports Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute in developing, piloting, and implementing improved software and systems engineering practices for the energy sector.