Spotlight Articles

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at the first postings of CIP-004-7 and CIP-011-3 - modified to allow alternative protective strategies that secure access to BES Cyber System Information (BCSI).  The updates…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight assesses a new NERC’s Lesson Learned recounting two incidents at the same facility touched off by the failure of newly installed hermetically sealed metering current transformers (CTs).  Both…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight evaluates NERC's latest three-year plan mapping out the standards development activity that they expect to process in 2020 and beyond.  Projects addressing FERC directives are prioritized the highest – and only…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight examines Version 4 of the ERO's Event Analysis Process, which was recently approved by NERC’s Operating Committee after a periodic review by subject matter experts and vetted…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at the second version of the 2020 Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) implementation plan.  Three changes have been made to the original version: 1. Monitoring Schedules…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight assesses the initial posting of BAL-001-TRE-2 which proposes three substantive changes addressing issues that were discovered after the original version was implemented and requiring work arounds to…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at the updates to two NERC standards which become mandatory and effective in the U.S. next month.  CIP-003-7 will strengthen the cyber protections required of Low-Impact BES Cyber Systems…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight examines NERC’s 2019-2020 Winter Reliability Assessment which consolidates forecast and resource capacity data across North America to determine if the BPS will perform reliably and adequately over…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight assesses NERC’s latest Frequency Response Filing, which analyzes the calculation of the Interconnection Frequency Response Obligations (IFROs) that will be apportioned out to Balancing Authorities next year.  Only…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at FERC’s Transmission Line Ratings Conference held last September 10 and 11 in Washington D.C.  Five panels were conducted during the event addressing the cost/benefit tradeoffs between…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight evaluates the first application of the approach developed by NERC to transition the “Guidelines and Technical Basis” section of every standard to (potentially) two other documents -…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight examines Draft 4 of CIP-002-6, which looks to modify a criterion that improperly categorizes very small TO Control Centers as Medium-Impact despite their minimal impact on BES reliability. …

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at the initial versions of seven standards that have been modified in accordance with the Risk-Based Registration (RBR) Initiative.  Once approved, the Load-Serving Entity references in…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight assesses Draft 1 of a Planning Committee document directed at system planners to help them model/assess fuel assurance and pipeline disruption risk.  The guideline recommends a seven-step risk…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight examines discusses the feedback from the Member Representatives Committee (MRC) and industry trade organizations on NERC's proposal to replace the Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee, Operating Committee, and…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at NERC's latest report on the ERO Enterprise’s Compliance and Enforcement organization’s performance.  It contains statistics and ancillary information that highlight activities that took place from July-September, 2019…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight discusses a cyber security controversy touched off by the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) report on the vulnerability of the BPS to cyber-attacks as requested by four…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight looks at NERC’s 2019 Situational Awareness Conference held in Little Rock last September to address the role of SCADA and Energy Management Systems (EMS) in BES reliability.…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight evaluates the latest cyber security vulnerability summaries posted by the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT).   Four advisories are reviewed in detail concerning defects that…

Today's LiveWire Spotlight explores the first functional release of Align, the unified ERO Enterprise Compliance and Enforcement platform, which will replace regional-specific products, tools, and file transfers. Although there has been…