How critical is it to protect a Substation’s perimeter
How critical is it to protect a Substation's perimeter
Substations form critical hubs in the "power grid" of entire nations. The Wall Street Journal reports that coordinated attacks in each of the US' three separate electric systems could cause the entire power grid network to collapse.
The United States have over 55,000 substations, all of which have vulnerable components, often with insufficient physical protection
The requirement
The need is critical, to prevent (not only) millions of dollars in damage and destruction but also the well-known risks of a Broad Outage for a city or entire nation in the safety of its people. A U.S. Department of Energy report notes replacement in time and components for a damaged facility can take up to two (2) years. Substations provide several important functions in energy distribution and as a result are key targets of vandalism, theft and terrorism. Cyber attacks are not the only threat to these critical infrastructure sites. The occurrence of adversaries breaching the perimeters of electrical substations is on the rise, in the US and globally.
The challenge
Because substations are typically unattended, relying on SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition control systems) for remote supervision and control, they are highly vulnerable to attack. Without electronic (perimeter) security, attacks go unnoticed until after the damage is done. Even with security cameras installed, they often prove worthless if not combined with an intrusion detection (heads up) alert. In some cases, alarms are simply ignored.
The solution
As a major player in the market of outdoor perimeter protection since 1974, CIAS Perimeter Security Systems are protecting hundreds of substations in North America, South America and Europe. From our experience, the most suitable solutions for critical infrastructure sites are digital fuzzy logic microwave barriers and radar, which can discriminate between human intrusion and environmental disturbances. CIAS fence detection systems with MEMS technology, are suitable for any kind of fence fabric. All solutions are IP & PoE ready to operate and integrate seamlessly with all major VMS and access control platforms for integrated supervision.
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