June 6, 2006
NERC hires DYONYX to implement education program
June 6, 2006 - Houston, Texas - The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), the entity responsible for ensuring the security and reliability of the North American electric power grid, announced today that it has appointed Houston headquartered consulting firm, DYONYX to implement an education program for the recently approved Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Cyber Security Standard. The CIP standard was developed by industry participants to “ensure that all entities responsible for the reliability of the Bulk Electric Systems in North America identify and protect Critical Cyber Assets that control or could impact the reliability of the Bulk Electric Systems.”
The scope of the program is critical in providing an understanding of the CIP standards to an anticipated 1,000 participates in the electric utility industry, throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico responsible for implementing and complying with the CIP standards.
DYONYX was selected for this important project via a formal procurement process and from a list of fifteen firms. According to DYONYX vice president and practice leader, Ron Blume, “We are very pleased that NERC has recognized our contribution and capabilities in serving the utility industry. The DYONYX energy practice consultants average 27 years of experience in the electric utility industry. We understand both the business and technical operations perspectives of the electric utility industry, enhancing our ability to appropriately frame risk assessment alternatives and provide real world education.
DYONYX brings to the project considerable formal security-specific training and curriculum development experience at the university and client level to the project.. These capabilities, coupled with their experience in securing transmission grid operations and mission critical application systems has been demonstrated with similar work for customers such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Blume added: “As a result of our extensive security training, physical and cyber security assessment experience, standard-compliant policy and procedure development project expertise, and security research and development efforts in the electric utility industry, DYONYX will provide NERC with a high quality Cyber Security Standard Education Program, and looks forward to being a part of this important project…”
DYONYX is a Houston headquartered solutions provider that specializes in working with energy-utility organizations to help them assess, deploy and support secure and efficient infrastructures, systems and databases to improve productivity, reduce their risk and reduce their cost.
Contact: Tim Barto at 713.830.5910 or tim.barto@dyonyx.com