National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October)

NERC

By NERC: “WASHINGTON, D.C. – October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, which highlights some of the emerging challenges in the world of cybersecurity. NERC’s Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) is supporting the campaign as a Cyber Security Awareness Month champion. This year’s theme, “See Yourself in Cyber,” focuses on four primary best practices: enabling multi-factor authentication; using strong passwords and a password manager; updating software; and recognizing and reporting phishing.”

“This year’s campaign is very timely as evidenced by the recent spate of high-profile hacks that often start with credential theft,” said Manny Cancel, NERC’s senior vice president and CEO of the E-ISAC. “It demonstrates the importance of organizations having strong information technology protocols and procedures in place combined with a need for employee training and awareness. NERC and the E-ISAC support a month focused on raising awareness of cyber security, which coincides with our annual grid security conference GridSecCon, cohosted with ReliabilityFirst this year.”

“With rising cybersecurity threats to the United States energy infrastructure and the reliability of the bulk power system, the need for shared heightened vigilance cannot be underestimated. The E-ISAC continues to collaborate, coordinate and communicate with industry stakeholders and government partners to collectively enhance the cybersecurity posture of the North American grid. The E-ISAC encourages its members to practice good cyber hygiene and always maintain a Shields Up posture. Good practices across both information technology and operational technology networks include: applying security patches as soon as possible, maintaining strict access management, baselining systems, encouraging strong passwords and multi-factor authentication and sharing cyber incident information with the E-ISAC. And, finally, E-ISAC stakeholders who are not yet members are encouraged to join find out more information at www.eisac.com.”

Chattanooga EPB’s Gigabit Generated $2.7 Billion in Economic Benefits

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Telecompetitor – EPB of Chattanooga’s gigabit broadband infrastructure has generated $2.69 billion in economic benefits to the community during its first decade of operation, according to a gigabit economic benefits report from the Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The study, which was conducted by Bento Lobo, Ph.D., head of the Department of Finance and Economics, identified five ways in which EBP of Chattanooga has benefited the community:

The infrastructure created and retained 9,516 jobs, which is about 40% of jobs created in Hamilton County during the study period.

The project kept unemployment down. This is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic. The network enabled businesses to transition quickly to remote work. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the county’s unemployment rate in November 2020 was 4.7%. That’s a lower rate than the state of Tennessee overall and also lower than in the U.S. overall (5.3% and 6.7%, respectively).

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Five Reasons Remote Technology Makes Sense

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PowerMag – The case for advanced analytics and remote diagnostics: During the last 25 years significant advancements have been made in remote monitoring capabilities for power plants. A number of operations and maintenance (O&M) functions can routinely be managed remotely, and it is also becoming more common for peaking and renewable energy plants to be remotely operated reliably and safely.

Operating and maintaining a full-scale power plant remotely presents challenges that require sophisticated systems, reliable sensor and diagnostic equipment, stable high-bandwidth communication, and advanced security protocols. Even with progress made in each of these areas, some plant managers don’t foresee a scenario where remote operations will become the norm. But even in cases where there are no plans to run a generating station from a remote location, there is still a solid case for adopting remote technology.

Here are five reasons why the case for remote technology is stronger today than ever before.

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Top 10 Construction Robots in Use Around the World

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EETimes & DesignLines – Construction: no matter if it is residential, commercial, or industrial — is one of the most labor-intensive jobs on the planet. It’s also the least automated, but that is rapidly changing as more robots are entering the field due to labor shortages and the pandemic. Adaptation has always been on the front lines when it comes to new technologies. Like with nearly every industry, automated robots are being deployed to construction sites all over the world.

As their name implies, construction robots are automated machines that assist with surveying, erecting buildings, or demolition. While there is some fear that robots will replace workers, these robots are designed to work with humans, making their jobs more manageable and less hazardous in some cases.

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Researchers Create Lab-on-a-Chip for Quick Infection Testing

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All About Circuits – As the pandemic resurges in many parts of the world, researchers have found a way to bring the speed and accuracy of infection testing to mobile devices with a lab-on-a-chip.

A new lab-on-a-chip has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London who hope it can pave the way for low-cost portable diagnostic testing. The lab-on-a-chip (LoC) technology, known as TriSilix, is a “micro laboratory” that can reportedly perform a scaled-down version of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the spot, presenting its results in just a few minutes. PCR, which detects viruses and bacteria in biological samples, is usually performed in a laboratory, meaning that test results don’t become immediately available. 

Each LoC device contains a DNA sensor, temperature detector, and heater so that the testing process can be automated. According to the researchers’ published findings in Nature Communications, a standard smartphone battery is capable of powering up to 35 tests on a single charge.

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What is the Z-Wave protocol?

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EE World – Smart homes need wireless connectivity, and Z-wave has emerged as the ultimate solution for home automation. The Z-wave protocol is a wireless, radio frequency protocol designed primarily for smart home networks. All the existing wireless communication protocols had one or the other problem. Bluetooth and Zigbee often shortfall of range while Wi-Fi poses its own limitations in a low-power ecosystem. Interoperability has been another major issue as popular wireless standards have different protocols and implementations for different applications. No one solution could cater to the requirements of an automated home. Z-wave is, now, the solution for all those lingering issues.

Z-wave devices are interoperable and can be easily accessed through the internet or a Z-wave gateway. With a range of around 40 meters, a Z-wave network limited to four hops can connect at most 232 devices. Irrespective of their make or application, all devices can have simultaneous two-way communication over the Z-wave network secured using AES. With sufficient range, optimum data speed, AES security, low-power wireless solution, and interoperable protocol, Z-wave is just perfect for home automation. There are now thousands of Z-wave products in the market, serving as intelligent devices for smart home ecosystems.

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