Recent FERC & NERC Developments

NERC CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, MICHAEL ASSANTE, ISSUE LETTER TO INDUSTRY CONCERNED THAT CRITICAL ASSETS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN PROPERLY IDENTIFIED

On April 7, 2009, NERC issued a letter suggesting that the most recent Self-Certification compliance survey results regarding identification of Critical Cyber Assets, raise concern as only 31% of entities responded to the survey that they had at least one Critical Asset and 23% responded that they had Critical Cyber Assets.  Particular concern was discussed over potential qualifying assets over Generation Owners and Generation Operators, as only 29% reported identifying at least one Critical Asset, and Transmission Owners, fewer than 63% identified at least one Critical Asset.  For additional information, see  http://www.nerc.com/fileUploads/File/News/CIP-002-Identification-Letter-040709.pdf  

FERC Issues Order on Proposed Clarification Regarding Application of CIP Reliability Standards to Nuclear Facilities

On September 18, 2008, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order proposing to clarify that the facilities within a nuclear generating plant that are not regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are subject to compliance with the eight mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical Infrastructure Protection that were approved in Order No. 706