Webinar Materials Posted Regarding the CIP-012 Small Group Advisory Session

Summary:

The presentation and streaming webinar from the March 8, 2022, CIP-012-1 Small Group Advisory General session webinar has been posted on the NERC website. Of note is that in Order No. 866, FERC stated that “maintaining the availability of communication networks and data should include provisions for incident recovery and continuity of operations in a responsible entity's compliance plan." FERC recognized that the redundancy of communication links cannot always be guaranteed and acknowledged there should be plans for both recovery of compromised communication links and use of backup communication capability. CIP-012-2 is currently being developed to address FERC concerns.

Additional Discussion:

The CIP-012-1 Workshop & Small Group Advisory Sessions (SGAS) provide an educational opportunity for registered entities to meet with NERC and Regional Entity representatives to discuss the CIP-012-1 Reliability Standard and possible compliance approaches in an open and non-audit environment. During the course of those discussions, the NERC and Regional Entity representatives may provide guidance on specific approaches for implementing the CIP-012-1 Reliability Standard. NERC and the Regional Entity representatives; however, they cannot guarantee compliance if those approaches are used, as compliance is necessarily dependent on the manner in which the guidance is implemented. Additionally, there may be other ways to comply with the obligations of the requirements of the CIP-012-1 Reliability Standard that are not expressed during the CIP-012-1 Workshop and SGAS. Compliance will continue to be determined based on language in the NERC Reliability Standard(s) as they may be amended from time to time. Lastly, to encourage an open exchange of information, NERC and Regional Entity representatives will not use the content from the discussions at the SGAS as a basis for a subsequent compliance or enforcement action upon the effective date of the CIP-012-1 Reliability Standard.

CIP-012-1 – Communications between Control Centers

• FERC Approved – January 23, 2020 • Effective – July 1, 2022
• Future Modifications
  • Modifications to require protections regarding availability addressing FERC Order No. 866 directive
  • Proposed 24 month implementation for Version 2
• The SDT is going to review the ballot comments and discuss an appropriate time line for next ballot posting.

Associated Files:

• 2020-04_CIP-012 clean_112021
• CIP-012 Small Group Advisory Session General Session
• pa_Stand_Reliability Standards_CIP-012-1