The provision in the new energy legislation that requires power companies to improve their cyber security is an important step toward cyber security and critical infrastructure protection. This provision is important because improved network defenses are needed to protect America?s critical infrastructure. The most widely discussed cyber vulnerability of America?s critical infrastructure is the increased accessibility of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

Essentially, these SCADA systems are the bridge between the virtual world and the physical world. For example, the operator of a nuclear power plant can modulate the core temperature of a nuclear reactor through a computer terminal. These systems are increasingly vulnerable as more SCADA systems are connected to the Internet ? an eventuality that was not contemplated during the initial design and deployment of SCADA systems. Cyber security was an afterthought during the initial design of SCADA systems because it was assumed that only trusted operators inside a plant control room would be able to operate the system. In other words, physical security was used to secure these systems. Therefore, as more systems are connected to the Internet it is theoretically possible that an unauthorized hacker will, for example, gain control of a nuclear power plant, via the relatively unprotected SCADA systems, and cause a meltdown .