Internal Network Security Monitoring for Utilities
Summary: Internal Network Security Monitoring (INSM) continuously observes and analyzes traffic inside an organization's internal infrastructure, and for electric utilities it targets anomalous activity within trusted network zones. NERC CIP-015 requires collecting network data feeds from within the ESP, detecting anomalies through behavioral baselines and protocol analysis, evaluating them via documented processes, protecting the data, and retaining records for investigation, with CIP-015-1 applying to High and Medium Impact BES Cyber Systems with External Routable Connectivity at Control Centers by October 2028 and remaining applicable assets by October 2030.
What's compelling: CIP-015 adds east-west visibility that CIP-007 R4's host-level, north-south monitoring does not cover, aimed at adversaries who have already bypassed perimeter defenses using legitimate credentials. With CIP-015-2 later extending scope to EACMS, PACS, and SCI outside the ESP on proposed 2029 and 2031 timelines, utilities that scope INSM only to today's requirement will rebuild it.
Read the original at Dragos Blog ↗
- Topics
- OT / ICS & Critical Infrastructure
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