Cybersecurity for critical infrastructures
Securing the energy transition: digitally connected to the future
Endian believes in the energy transition through renewable energies and supports its progress. Change is advancing rapidly throughout Europe, but structural bottlenecks repeatedly lead to plant shutdowns. Battery storage systems can mitigate this problem. Secure remote access is a fundamental requirement for their reliable operation.
The energy transition is advancing faster in technical terms than its political and digital safeguards. In some countries the mix of solar, wind, and hydroelectric power is stronger than production from conventional power plants. But the challenge lies in integrating green electricity.
Battery storage keeps the power grid in balance
The supply of renewable electricity repeatedly causes negative electricity prices on the power exchanges. The big challenge is therefore to store electricity for times when supply is scarce. Battery storage offers a suitable solution for this.
Battery storage systems allow excess energy to be stored for later use. They can compensate for fluctuations, especially on days with high wind and solar production. In order for battery storage systems to operate reliably, they must be digitally networked and allow secure remote access for various stakeholders.
Secure remote access is crucial
Battery storage operators in particular need an overview of the charge status. Based on this data, they can control their own consumption or feed into the general power grid. Manufacturers of the systems generally want to collect operating data in order to gain experience regarding performance and service life and to optimize their solutions. Firmware and software updates are handled by the integrators. This means that everyone involved needs individual access.
Remote access to battery storage ultimately means access to parts of critical infrastructure. Remote access must therefore be secured using multiple mechanisms to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting vulnerabilities.
Multi-level cybersecurity
A key issue is data encryption for remote access: all data connections between the systems and the remote user must be secured by a VPN tunnel. This prevents communication from being read or manipulated.
Since multiple parties need access to a system, but each with different tasks, granular access control is equally important: operators, technicians, and manufacturers only receive access and permissions that are relevant to them.
For critical systems, simple access data is often not sufficient. That is why various regulations also require two-factor authentication. This requires an additional factor to connect to the system, such as a code sent to a smartphone.
In addition, the networks in which the battery storage systems are managed should be divided into sufficiently small segments. This network segmentation prevents the unchecked spread of malware if an attacker manages to breach the firewall.
Alternative energies are the future
The year 2025 has shown that renewable energies can cover an ever-increasing share of electricity demand. Secure, digital networking allows this supply to be better utilized. Endian offers the necessary technologies to secure the infrastructures.
We are convinced that renewable energies are not an ideological project, but the only realistic response to the climate crisis, geopolitical dependencies, and rising energy costs.