With North America and other nations around the world
transitioning their electrical systems to networked, smart grid
technology, a new report estimates that smart grid security is poised to
become a multi-billion dollar industry. According to a new report
recently released by Pike Research, between now and 2015, North America
will spend $1.5 billion–followed closely by Asia Pacific at $1.2 billion
and Europe at $784 million on smart grid security. Total global
spending is expected to reach $21 billion over the next five years.
The
key piece of information lies in the estimate that 15 percent of total
investments in the grid will be for cyber security, as governments
develop security protocols to ward off the possibilities of sabotage.
The folks over at Smart Planet summarized the report here and
note that:
“According to Pike Research, no
government, utility or infrastructure vendor wants to be viewed as the
weak link in the smart grid chain. As a result of those fears, vendors
specializing in smart grid cyber security revenue will see revenue jump
from $1.2 billion in 2009 to $3.7 billion by 2015.”
Wurldtech
was named as one of the key industry players among industry giants such
as Boeing, Cisco, IBM, and Lockheed Martin as well as our friends over
at Industrial
Defender.
“Wurldtech is pleased to be
recognized as playing a leading role in the protection of emerging
metering and Smart Grid infrastructure, says Tyler Williams, President.
“It is clear we have a daunting task ahead of us, but I think that with
the stewardship of organizations such as ours and Industrial Defender,
who have a pedigree in the industrial cyber security domain, and
understand the unique business drivers and challenges of industrial
organizations, we can make a large improvement today.”
The full
report can be viewed here.