Re: [smartpower-interest] [Fwd: Re: NIST_PAP_01-IP_in_Smart_Grid_v.1.0-Oct_30th_2009]

[Igor Faynberg <[e-mail]>]

I agree with everything, but I think it is essential to emphasize other 
aspects of security, too:  not only authentication but also 
authorization, privacy (a serious concern for many reasons, the most 
often cited one being that low power utilization can be an invitation to 
burglars), non-repudiation, and non-replay.

This also strengthens the case for PKI, where the private-key signature 
ensures non-repudiation.

Igor

Ed Jankiewicz wrote:
> ...
> 2.  Security issues, in particular authentication, are fundamental and 
> should be considered from the earliest stages as non-negotiable.  
> Scalable and manageable key distribution is essential to ubiquitous 
> implementation of any protection scheme.  I personally agree with 
> Fred's points on the intractability of almost anything but public key 
> cryptography given the scale of this problem space - very many 
> distributed sensor/actuators in the network under central control, 
> where authentication is an absolute requirement.  Public key exchange 
> will minimize operational complexity and enable future growth of the 
> network.
>