Global Energy Leaders Announce Availability of First Secure IT/OT Standards for Digital Energy Systems

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TEIA, the Trusted Energy Interoperability Alliance, today announced the availability of TEIA Messaging Protocol v.1.0 specification, the first in a set of secure interoperability specifications for energy services and IoT devices. The TEIA Messaging Protocol specifications ensure compatibility across multiple manufacturers and empower adopters to create secure and interoperable IoT devices for a wide range of energy applications such as solar inverters, storage batteries, EV chargers, thermal generation systems, transformers, and wind turbines. The availability of open standards-based secure IoT devices means utilities companies deploying digital energy services like virtual power plants can avoid vendor lock-in and focus on building vibrant ecosystems that are secure, cost-effective, and scalable.

Protocol v.1.0 Specification

• First standard specification defines a way for devices to exchange messages with end-to-end security, even over untrusted networks and with many intermediate connections.
• Agnostic to message payloads, and guarantees security and interoperability via a secure communications layer, regardless of the manufacturer or the type of devices or servers on either end of the session.
• Allows adopters to build devices that bridge networking hurdles, connecting seamlessly to secure gateway services in the cloud.
• Extensible and versioned, allowing for updates to include new cryptographic features.

“This specification marks an important step forward for utilities and large OEM devices, such as EV chargers, batteries, heat pumps, and wind turbines,” said Cameron Briggs, Chairman of TEIA and General Manager of Future Energy at Australian market leader Origin Energy. “TEIA aims to create trusted ecosystems of devices, data and software that form the backbone of the AI-driven energy systems needed to decarbonize our electricity supply.”

Adopting AI-driven digital energy systems and working with distributed energy resources (DERs) greatly increases a utility’s attack surface. Current cybersecurity measures and data protocols used by the industry do not call for persistently protected data and processing environments. If OEMs provide such capabilities, they are typically proprietary, create vendor lock-in and worse, can introduce the “weakest link problem” which keeps them from being zero trust-compliant. This results in a lack of interoperability within a single utility and across systems managed by different utilities or power generator, thus limiting a utility’s flexibility in selecting device and software vendors and access to source data, and complicates system design, development and maintenance.

Recent guidance from the West warns intelligence agencies about “living off the land” or LOTL attacks that underscore the significant threat energy devices are facing. As critical infrastructure, utilities are targeted by sophisticated cyber attacks aiming to disrupt energy distribution, steal valuable data, and commit fraud.

“In today’s energy landscape, device OEMs spend significant resources on cybersecurity measures that are outside their core competencies. Proprietary cybersecurity measures used in devices also causes friction amongst utility customers. TEIA offers a standardized way of ensuring secure interoperability and the release of the TEIA Messaging Specification v.1.0 is a leap forward in this direction,” added Briggs.

The TEIA Messaging Protocol Specification v.1.0 is available for download at: https://www.trusted-energy.org/specifications/

Upcoming Specifications

• TEIA Base Authorization Policy specification
• TEIA PKI Authorization Policy specification
• TEIA Security Association Structure specification
• TEIA Message Handling specification

About TEIA

TEIA, the Trusted Energy Interoperability Alliance, is a global organization that develops open standards to ensure digital security and interoperability in the energy industry. Founded by E.ON SE, GS Energy, Intertrust, JERA and Origin, TEIA’s trust model enables a more decarbonized energy future through the broad adoption of trusted digital energy applications. TEIA is open to participation from all companies and organizations active in the digital energy ecosystem. Find further information at https://www.trusted-energy.org/.