Virtualize, Inspect, Protect — Resilient Grids from the Core Up

Modern power grids face sophisticated cyber-physical threats that traditional IT security tools aren’t designed to address. Conventional firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, and honeypots, built for enterprise networks, often fail to recognize the unique timing and protocol behaviors of grid control systems. Even worse, many security solutions operate passively, reacting only after an attack has occurred, which makes it difficult to prevent actual physical disruptions.

Much like remodeling a house on a weak foundation, retrofitting existing grid networks with conventional infrastructure limits the effectiveness of advanced security measures. Instead, we’re pioneering the use of technologies that have revolutionized large-scale Internet platforms to create high-performance, resilient power grids:

  • Software-Defined Networking (SDN)-based Virtualization: Virtualizes computing nodes to obscure the grid’s cyber-physical footprint and disrupt adversarial reconnaissance.
  • P4-Enabled Hardware Accelerators: Losslessly compress network telemetry for faster, more efficient detection, prevention, and mitigation of attacks.
  • Customized Zeek Intrusion-Detection Systems: Analyze well-formed traffic patterns to expose an attacker’s hidden strategies and malicious intent.