Vulnerability of Smart Grid-enabled Protection Relays to IEMI

The electricity sector has been undergoing transformations towards the smart grid concept, which aims to improve the robustness, efficiency, and flexibility of the power system. This transition has been achieved by the introduction of smart electronic devices (SEDs) and advanced automatic control and communication systems. Despite the benefits of such modernization, safety issues have emerged with significant concern by experts and entities worldwide. One of these issues is known as Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI), where offenders employ high-power electromagnetic sources to maliciously disrupt or damage electronic devices. One of the possible gateways for IEMI attacks targeting the smart grids is the microprocessor-based protection relays. On the one hand, the malfunctioning of these devices can lead to equipment damage, including high-voltage equipment (e.g., power transformers), which represent one of the most high-cost items of energy infrastructure. On the other hand, a possible misleading triggering of these devices could cause cascading effects along the various nodes of the power system, resulting in widespread blackouts. Thus, this study presents the possible recurring effects of IEMI exposure of a typical protection relay used in smart grid substations as part of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. For this purpose, a test setup containing a smart grid protective unit, a monitoring box, and the device's wiring harness is exposed to radiated IEMI threats with high-power narrowband signals using a TEM waveguide and horn antennas. The effects during the test campaigns are observed by means of an IEMI-hardened camera system and a software developed to real-time monitor the device's fibre optic communication link, which is established according to the IEC 60870-5-105 protocol. The results revealed failures ranging from display deviation to various types of protection relay shutdown. Moreover, the consequences of the identified failures in a power substation are discussed to feed into a risk analysis regarding the threat of IEMI to power infrastructures.</p

Women’s underrepresentation in business-to-business sales : reasons, contingencies, and solutions

Sales faces the second-largest gender gap of any corporate function, with women’s underrepresentation even more pronounced in business-to-business (B2B) sales and at higher hierarchical levels. Concurrently, the call for a more gender-diverse sales force is gaining momentum for social and economic reasons, moving the question of how to attract and promote women in B2B sales to the top of sales managers’ agenda. Using an inductive approach, we uncover male-centricity of communication and job structures in B2B sales as the underlying reasons deterring women from entering and advancing in B2B sales. Specifically, male-centricity implies a misfit between B2B sales and women’s self-conception and needs. By deriving contingencies of these relationships, we offer solutions to women’s underrepresentation in B2B sales by showing, for example, which sales positions are less prone to signal or create a misfit to women and what gender-inclusive resources sales departments can provide and saleswomen can build

Increasing graduates’ interest in B2B sales : how to dispel lay beliefs, fight stigma, and create a profession of choice

Given the pressing talent shortage and the need for well-educated recruits in business-to-business (B2B) sales, understanding how to increase university graduates’ low interest in this profession is vital to sales departments’ competitiveness. To tackle this issue, we adopt a mixed-method approach to investigate the reasons for and measures against graduates’ low interest in B2B sales. First, we develop a comprehensive, theory-based framework to understand the root causes of graduates’ low interest in B2B sales (Study 1). This framework uncovers specific beliefs discouraging graduates from pursuing B2B sales, including negative perceptions of job characteristics, the profession’s prevailing stigma, and negative career success expectations. Second, comparing graduates’ and B2B salespeople’s assessments of B2B sales job characteristics (Study 2), we reveal that graduates hold lay beliefs about B2B sales lacking intrinsic and social job characteristics. As a basis for a solution, we identify the types and combinations of sales exposure required to dispel lay beliefs and create a favorable but realistic picture of B2B sales. Third, combining text analysis of B2B sales labor market communication and conjoint analysis of graduate application drivers (Studies 3a and 3b), we develop guidelines to better align communication and job structures with graduates’ needs

D4.1 - Supervised RIs: Defining resilience indicators based on risk assessment frameworks

This report describes candidate resilience issues and indicators to be used when assessing, predicting and monitoring resilience of Smart Critical Infrastructures (SCIs). A total of 233 candidate issues and 1264 indicators are provided for various threats, SCIs and the five phases of the resilience cycle used in the SmartResilience project. Structured candidate issues and indicators are mainly provided by collecting existing issues/indicators from the risk, safety, security, crisis management, business continuity and similar domains, considering resilience as an "umbrella". The main intended reader is the person (user) – within a city or area, or a specific SCI – who is responsible for performing the resilience assessment, prediction or monitoring, including carrying out necessary calculations. This can be an in-house person performing e.g. self-assessment, or it may be an external assessor. The issues and indicators presented in this report and stored in the SmartResilience database are candidate issues and indicators. Each user is responsible for finding a relevant and complete set of issues and indicators for his/her own case study. The report may be used together with the SmartResilience methodology and the Guideline for assessing, predicting and monitoring resilience of SCIs developed in the SmartResilience project. The report provides information about the name and description of issues and the corresponding indicators for various SCIs, threats and resilience phases. More detailed information about each indicator such as how to measure the indicator, recording frequency and proposed target values, is provided in the SmartResilience database. The database will be continuously updated during the remaining part of the SmartResilience project, thus superseding the information provided in this report. Gaps and quality matters revealed in the report should be considered when updating the database