In this first video, we discuss the word “cyber,” where it came from, and why, in my humble opinion, “cyber” is more closely related to operational technology (OT) than to IT. Looking at how we perceive this word today, we often think of back-office IT stuff. For instance, here we have a laptop. In our modern culture, right after Thanksgiving, we have good old Cyber Monday, where people go online and spend lots of money. In 1989, as far as the evolution of this word “cyber” over time, we had the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Jean-Luc Picard getting assimilated by the Borg Queen. The Starship Enterprise faced the Borg, and they used the term “cyber” in “Cyborg.”
Actually, in 1948 is where this word has its origin. Dr. Norbert Wiener wrote a book called Cybernetics, in which he looked at the theory of control and communications in machines and living tissue. In this book, Wiener credits the father of this field, going all the way back to James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell wrote the Maxwell equations and, in 1868, a paper called On Governors. In this paper, Maxwell examined control theory and the feedback loop of a ship’s governor. The word “cybernetics” is derived from a literal translation of the Greek word for “governor.” Dr. Wiener adopted this translation, linking it back to the Greek word from 1868.
This is important because a lot of the way we treat cyber now is strictly back-office IT. This includes modern challenges in the power grid. I like the IEEE Power System Relaying Committee’s definition of security: “Security is the degree of certainty that a device will operate as expected.”
Let’s consider a device such as an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) or a Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) used in the power grid. These devices are programmed with proprietary software, allowing for various functionalities. For example, in programming back-office IT systems, we use if-statements in code. Similarly, within these devices, we can create logic to trip a relay if certain conditions are met, such as overcurrent on a phase.
Inside these devices, you may find a web server for communications, networking, IP addresses, subnets, and a file server for transferring fault data. They support various protocols, some proprietary and some standardized like DNP or IEC 61850. An annunciator may provide alerts through a web interface or proprietary means, and a database typically stores historical information about faults the relay has detected.
All this to say that we can’t think of cyber as just back-office IT. These are computers and microprocessor-based devices everywhere in the grid, keeping the lights on and ensuring resilience.
In this series, we’ll explore how cyber technologies in the grid contribute to a more reliable and resilient system and how we secure it.
References:
- Cybernetics: Second Edition: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
- Mr. J. C. Maxwell on Governors.
About the Author:
Dr Nathan Wallace, PE has BS degrees in Electrical Engineering, and Physics, a MS in Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Engineering from Louisiana Tech University. Nathan is a CoFounder and Director of GridIntel. Nathan is actively involved in the IEEE-PES PSRC and PSCC technical committees and currently chairs two IEEE standards development working groups. Nathan is a licensed PE in AL, LA, MS, OH, and TN.