DEF CON 29 ICS Village - Joe Slowik - Crippling the Grid Examination of Dependencies & Cyber Vulns

Typical views of cyber-focused attacks on electric utilities emphasize direct impacts to generation, transmission, or distribution assets. While some examples of this activity exist, most notably in Ukraine, such actions are relatively difficult given technical and access requirements to properly execute. Less explored, but far more dangerous, are critical dependencies in electric utility operations which are often more exposed to IT networks and require less specialized knowledge to subvert. This presentation will examine some of these dependencies and their implications to show how ICS-centric defense must include relevant IT links and functional requirements.