North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) works with the U.S. government and the U.S. power industry to protect the U.S. power grid from attack. NERC’s goal is to reduce the risk to critical cyber assets that support the electric infrastructure, such as computers, software, and communications networks. To help our customers meet NERC’s critical infrastructure protection (CIP) standards, Emerson Process Management offers assistance in the overall compliance process. Emerson’s Security Assessment module is the first step towards CIP compliance.

The Security Assessment module, part of Emerson’s SureService customer support programs, is designed to help utilities identify, collect, and document key control system parameters. In assessing and tracking both plant- and enterprise-wide CIP compliance, the module provides a review of the current system operations and practices,  a thorough inventory and characterization of current control system hardware and software, and a tool to prepare, direct, and manage the compliance process for a single plant or the entire fleet. Additionally, based on the requirements of your organization, the module can provide Onsite Assessment, Web-Based Assessment, or both.