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sweet_n_salty t1_j1sayvz wrote

As someone working security for a central wa PUD, good luck getting bean counters to give us money to be proactive. Nobody ever thinks it will happen here until it does.

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farcical88 t1_j1sjio1 wrote

Is physical security beyond perimeter breaches something covered by policies or on the radar of most PUDs? I mean I know you said finance won’t allocate for it but is it on the minds of others?

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sweet_n_salty t1_j1smpdf wrote

It’s definitely on some of our minds, and people are interested, just not interested to be anything but reactive to anything. We’ve got some large buildouts planned for the next 5-7 years, and nobody wants to put an extra 5-6k in a 3 million dollar project for access control and a few cameras.

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Hanse00 t1_j1stokp wrote

5-6 k per 3 million? Geeze, I’d personally foot the bill for that shit. Infrastructure is the most important thing we all share.

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westsound_bestsound t1_j1swhoo wrote

> 5-6k

Like average per camera cost maybe

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exstaticj t1_j1tfu0y wrote

I used to work with a security company that did remote view networked camera setups. 5-6k is completely reasonable for a substation retrofit. Plus when the camera detects movement, an alert can be forwarded to the security team so that they may determine if the threat is credible or not and respond if necessary.

The technology is fairly straightforward and intuitive. The power companies all have qualified technicians that are more than qualified to do the install. If the companies negotiated directly with Honeywell or another manufacturer, the price could reduced significantly as the two companies reach a long term agreement.

Video is inexpensive. They can alert the entire security team within seconds of detecting motion. Response time is critical and this is key. Not some CSI wanna be high powered enhance camera. Save those for the new builds. The retrofits could be quite cheap.

I can't believe we live in this timeline. I can't go to the store to by a gallon of ice cream without passing several cameras trying to cite me for a traffic crime. Once I arrive at my friendly corporate megamart, I am even under more surveillance. They even go so far as to show me my face on a large screen suspended from the ceiling. When I finally get to self checkout the final camera, complete with facial recognition, is designed to ensure that I can be prosecuted if I don't ring up my $5 ice cream. No expense was spared in making me a compliant little citizen.

The nationa and state levell power grid though? We just don't have the money

WTACTUALF!!!

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thedeadthatyetlive t1_j1sk7k6 wrote

Unfortunately because security was not a concern for most of these pieces of infrastructure, securing them would probably be pretty expensive. Between the publicity and damage to infrastructure however, there could be enough pressure to spur something. While IP cams may not be sufficient to defend such substations from gunfire, it might have been enough to make IDs in these cases. I don't want to discuss specifics of site security with you, seems like that information probably shouldn't get spread around right now, but do you know if security is the responsibility of the power companies or the government in these instances?

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VGSchadenfreude t1_j1sh6ne wrote

Which bean counters? The actual culprits at the very top or the poor saps who do all the actual grunt work?

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sweet_n_salty t1_j1smcyk wrote

Top. We’ve been asked multiple times and provided multiple estimates and recommendations, even 3rd party security assessments and when it comes down to it, we’re always told there’s no money anywhere to be found.

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VGSchadenfreude t1_j1t8sk1 wrote

As a low-level “bean counter,” I feel you! Lost my last job because the CEO decided I was “too pushy about getting stuff turned in on time.”

I was the only AP person for both sides of the company. I was trying to not only make sure their bills got paid on time, but also cleaning up the mess their ridiculously high turnover had caused. It was literally my job to be pushy about paying things on time!

They fired me by phone the day before my replacement started. I had zero warning that they were even considering getting rid of me.

But joke’s on them! They caught me right in the middle of a massive overhaul of their AP filing system (four years of electronic AND paper files), and gave me no time to wrap things up, so that whole area is a fucking mess.

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