Industry Challenge
- Electric utilities operate some of the most complex and reliability-critical OT environments in the world.
- Internal SCADA, EMS, and DCS systems often rely on long-lived, manually renewed TLS certificates that silently expire and create exploitable gaps.
- Substation remote access and grid-sensor identity depend on internal PKI that OT teams struggle to maintain at scale.
- Historian, telemetry, and grid-topology data stores hold sensitive operational information whose encryption keys are frequently managed through manual HSM scripts or spreadsheets.
- NERC CIP and IEC 62443 require automated, provable identity and key governance — something manual certificate and key processes cannot deliver.
Amera® Solution
Certificate-Free Grid Device Identity and Automated Key Governance
- Deterministic, hardware-rooted identity for RTUs, IEDs, relays, and grid sensors — no internal CA, no certificate renewal, and no PKI infrastructure inside the utility network.
- Internal OT communications use continuously rotating symmetric keys instead of static TLS certificates, eliminating expiry-driven outages and reducing attack surface.
- Short-lived key-based credentials replace certificate-based identity inside remote-access systems, reducing reliance on internal PKI while maintaining NERC CIP-aligned authentication.
- AmeraKey® governs encryption keys for historian, telemetry, and grid-topology data with deterministic derivation, rotation policies, and audit-ready logs.
- All identity and key lifecycle operations run entirely inside the utility’s operational network — no cloud dependency, no external trust chain.
Use Cases
Eliminating Expired Certificates on Internal SCADA Communications
Internal SCADA, EMS, and DCS systems often run on long-lived certificates that are difficult to track and easy to miss. AmeraKey® replaces these certificates with auto-rotating symmetric transport keys, removing renewal calendars and reducing operational risk.
Replacing Internal PKI for Substation Remote Access
Certificate-based VPNs and remote-access systems require a PKI that OT teams cannot sustainably operate. AmeraKey® provides hardware-rooted, short-lived key-based identity inside these systems, reducing PKI burden without changing network architecture.
Key Governance for Grid Operational Data
Historian logs, telemetry archives, and grid-topology data contain sensitive operational information. AmeraKey® governs all data-at-rest keys with deterministic derivation, rotation, and audit logging — replacing manual HSM scripts and spreadsheet-based key tracking.
Device Identity Replacement on Private Smart-Grid Networks
RTUs, IEDs, and sensors deployed across substations and feeders often carry certificates that cannot be practically renewed in the field. AmeraKey® provides deterministic, hardware-rooted identity that never expires and requires no certificate lifecycle.
Key Benefits
No internal CA or certificate lifecycle
Eliminates PKI from SCADA, EMS, and DCS networks, removing a major operational and security burden.
Hardware-rooted device identity
Deterministic identity derived from device characteristics — cannot be cloned or extracted.
Auto-rotating transport encryption
Keys rotate continuously, eliminating silent certificate expiry and reducing lateral-movement risk.
Automated key governance for operational data
AmeraKey® manages the full lifecycle of data-at-rest keys for historian, telemetry, and grid-topology systems.
NERC CIP / IEC 62443-aligned auditability
Every identity and key event is logged and exportable as compliance evidence.
Positioning Statement
Amera® secures critical grid infrastructure with certificate-free device identity and automated key governance — eliminating internal PKI while protecting SCADA, EMS, DCS, and operational data in alignment with NERC CIP and IEC 62443.