16. SecurityΒΆ
Security is fundamental to the GEISA specification, so much so that it is included in the name itself: Grid Edge Interoperability and Security Alliance. This specification was developed with prevailing security and privacy design principles in mind, such as NIST 800-53, CCPA and NERC CIP standards, and enables implementers to incorporate security controls appropriate to their operational contexts and needs.
Security in GEISA exists to enable trusted interoperability across independently developed hardware, software, and operational domains without requiring a single vendor-controlled platform. It is designed to allow applications from different vendors to co-exist, to allow utilities to trust in portable secure workloads and/or edge applications, and allows for interoperability without shared implementations, while allowing the Utility or Operator to dictate their specific policies and standards.
This chapter is broadly divided into sets of sections. The first section covers the threat model, responsibilities, and expectations. These constitute the security philosophy and approach of GEISA. Specifically this includes:
The second section covers practical aspects of security:
Note
GEISA security is focused on application-level transactions. GEISA does not address network security directly. GEISA does require a variety of LwM2M objects that facilitate management of different network substrates (see OMA Lightweight M2M), which may allow for network security management; however, network security implementation details are outside of the scope of GEISA. Implementations MUST support the native security mechanisms for the network technologies they use (e.g. EAP-TLS for Wi-SUN, eSIMs/SIMs for Cellular, WPA for Wi-Fi, etc.). Implementations MUST NOT rely exclusively on application security. That said, this specification focuses on application security mechanisms, leaving implementation details regarding network technologies for other specifications and standards.
