02 Dec 2009
*Business and technology consultancy urges formulation of single ‘sponsoring group’ to coordinate roll out of smart meters programme*
LONDON, 02 DECEMBER 2009: Detica, the business and technology consultancy, is urging the many stakeholders across the UK energy market to collaborate and manage the potential security issues related to smart meters, before the £20 billion scheme rolls out from 2012 onwards. In an address to the smart metering forum in London today, Detica argues that the risks associated with the scheme can be managed but only if addressed early and in a unified manner.
Steve Daniels, Head of Cyber Security and Information Assurance at Detica explains: “With new technology and operations comes new risks. Like the Internet, the smart grid could be hacked, and confidential customer data might be lost or new vulnerabilities to crime may be created, unless adequate safeguards are put in place. Energy smart metering is perhaps the biggest change to the critical national infrastructure in more than a decade, and the energy market already has many stakeholders across Government, regulatory bodies, utilities companies, generators and other third parties. Engaging them all is vital and we believe that a single ‘sponsoring group’ needs to exist to coordinate the scheme.”
Daniels continues: “Security is everybody’s problem in the smart metering landscape. Whilst each member of the ecosystem has a critical role to play, coordinated governance, strategy and solution design will also be needed to ensure that weaknesses are not introduced in the hand-offs between these groups, or by the technologies involved.”
The latest Detica whitepaper entitled ‘securing smart meters: getting it right first time’ has been published today and is available at http://www.detica.com/insights.html
For a copy of the Detica response to a consultation from the Department of Energy and Climate Change regarding smart meters, submitted in July 2009 please go to: http://www.detica.com/images/pdfs/detica-decc-response.pdf
About Detica
Detica specialises in collecting, managing and exploiting information to reveal actionable intelligence. It uses this capability to help government and commercial clients reveal intelligence, maintain security and strengthen resilience in today’s complex operating environment. It also uses its skills to assist clients with other information-intensive problems such as achieving regulatory compliance and understanding customer behaviour.
By combining technological innovation with in-depth industry knowledge, Detica has developed a range of world-class solutions centred on its expertise in intelligence, security and resilience. This is backed up with over thirty years’ experience of developing solutions to some of the most complex security problems. Detica’s business and technical consultants offer a range of core services from strategy formulation through people and process change to the development, delivery and support of software and hardware technology. Detica’s understanding of today’s information-intensive challenges has also led it to develop a range of specialist services and products based on its unique intellectual property.
Detica delivers projects of significant scale across government and commercial markets in the UK, US and continental Europe. Its principal clients are government agencies responsible for intelligence, security and resilience. It also assists civil government and commercial organisations with a critical national infrastructure remit. Detica’s UK government clients include: Home Office, Ministry of Defence, Borders Agency, HM Revenue & Customs, Metropolitan Police and Department for Transport. Its US government clients include: Department for Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service. Detica’s commercial clients include: HSBC, Nationwide, RBS Insurance, Lloyds of London, Financial Services Authority, Turquoise, Thomson Reuters, BT, Vodafone, Cable & Wireless and 3. Detica has offices in London, Gatwick, Guildford, Gloucester and Manchester.
Detica is a BAE Systems company. BAE Systems is the premier global defence, security and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 105,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £18.5 billion (US $34.4 billion) in 2008.
For further information, please
visit
www.detica.com
or contact
For more information:
Rachel Ringstead:
+44 207 853 2289
rachel.ringstead@porternovelli.co.uk
Sally Clift
+44 207 853 2310
sally.clift@porternovelli.co.uk
