On December 1, 2009, Encari's Co-Founder, Steve Hamburg, presented at Midwest Reliability Organization's (MRO) 2009 Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Workshop in Bloomington, MN.  Steve’s topic was “Identity and Access Management Opportunities for NERC CIP Compliance.”

Steve's presentation focused on providing a strategic identity and access management (IAM) road map that Registered Entities could leverage in support of their compliance efforts with the North American Electric Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards.  More specifically, the presentation addressed the following key points:

1. Confirm an understanding that IAM consists of an ongoing life cycle vs. just a 'point-in-time' concern.
2. Do not pursue compliance with requirements in the NERC CIP Reliability Standards related to IAM (e.g., CIP-003-1 R5, CIP-004-1 R4, and CIP-007-1 R5) in isolation.
3. Do not pursue opportunities for IAM automation until you have established manual processes and procedures that work.
4. Confirm an understanding of all IAM automation opportunities that exist and only pursue such opportunities that are most financially-viable and achievable for your company; do not unconditionally attempt to automate all aspects of your IAM operations.
5. Confirm an understanding that several commercially available IAM products exist that could be viable technology solutions for your company.

The presentation concludes with several key points that could prove invaluable for your company's IAM product implementation and ongoing IAM compliance efforts.

Contact Encari at 866-943-9901 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to learn more about how IAM products can automate many aspects of your company's current NERC CIP IAM compliance operations and reduce your ongoing NERC CIP compliance costs, as well as specially how Encari can assist your company with all of its IAM concerns.