North American electric utility companies constantly balance the need to be audit-ready for NERC CIP compliance against their top priority: ensuring the reliability of the bulk electric system.
NERC CIP compliance, especially when approached using manual methods, is complex, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Further, NERC CIP requirements often infer security skill sets beyond those of many workers in the power and electric utility sector.
Collecting audit evidence can easily overwhelm IT and operations staff, a task made even more challenging due to frequent revisions of the standards and requirements. However, it’s simply the cost of doing business and getting more expensive with every revision. Costs in fines and penalties assessed against non-compliant registered entities have been in the hundreds of millions. Equally concerning is that non- compliance leaves utilities more exposed to cyber threat, and more likely to experience service disruptions—putting the entire power grid at risk.
A Comprehensive NERC CIP Compliance Solution
NERC CIP compliance doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Tripwire has been doing NERC CIP compliance since the standard emerged, and applying our products and our deep domain expertise in compliance as well as security has helped hundreds of electric utilities achieve, maintain and produce “evidence of compliance” for their NERC audits.
The Tripwire NERC CIP Solution Suite is built on our award-winning and patented technology, dramatically reducing the time and effort for power and utility companies to pass their audits.
Components include:
- Tripwire® Enterprise—Security configuration management
- Tripwire IP360™—Vulnerability management
- Tripwire LogCenter®—Intelligent log and event management
- Tripwire’s NERC-experienced Professional Consultants
With Tripwire’s NERC CIP Solution Suite, you can immediately begin to experience results.
- Pass NERC CIP audits, with higher efficiency using industry-leading security products, audit-ready reports and dashboards, and experienced consultants.
- Automate NERC CIP compliance processes, reducing the complexity and workload of error-prone manual compliance efforts.
- Maintain system reliability by reducing the attack surface of the technology systems of the power grid.
- Respond to NERC CIP changes more easily, with automated compliance delivered by a company that is fully engaged in the NERC CIP process.
- Improve security and compliance beyond NERC CIP, with core security controls that meet additional compliance mandates like PCI, HIPAA and SOX.
Most importantly, you can stay focused on job one: ensuring the reliability of the bulk electric system.
IT Security and Compliance Automation Solutions
Tripwire enables you to achieve and maintain NERC CIP compliance with:
- Continuous Monitoring: Continuously collect detailed status information on all your critical cyber assets and immediately detect any changes
- Automated Assessment: Automatically aggregate and analyze your security data and alert on suspicious events or modifications that impact your compliance status. Blending security configuration management, vulnerability assessment, and intelligent log and event management provides unique insight to the state of your security.
- Audit-Ready Evidence: Quickly generate reports and dashboards that fully document, by CIP requirement, your compliance with security controls and processes. Solutions are tailored to meet the exact needs of each customer, helping you meet as few as one to as many as 65 of the 116 NERC CIP technical control requirements.
For more information, visit our NERC CIP compliance page.