Cyber security software usage variations create vulnerabilities
There is certainly a difference between how cyber security
software performs in a testing environment and how it performs
in the real world. The many variables in real world usage
patterns add an entirely new dimension to cyber security.
Through my work at the Smart Grig Interoperability Panel (SGIP),
I’ve come to believe that systems designers must consider the
various means of inappropriate use or abuse capable by untrained
users or nefarious individuals and provide appropriate testing
for such usage at the outset. When we install conformant and
interoperable products in the smart grid and achieve
interconnectivity and information flow only a few experts need
to know how to use the software. The software is most often a
transparent service to the users. But when we are implementing a
cyber secure system, we have to implement processes that ensure
that the users of the system (who typically are process-oriented
individuals and not technical expe