Practical challenges of attack detection in microgrids using machine learning

The move towards renewable energy and technological advancements in the generation, distribution and transmission of electricity have increased the popularity of microgrids. The popularity of these decentralised applications has coincided with advancements in the field of telecommunications allowing for the efficient implementation of these applications. This convenience has, however, also coincided with an increase in the attack surface of these systems, resulting in an increase in the number of cyber-attacks against them. Preventative network security mechanisms alone are not enough to protect these systems as a critical design feature is system resilience, so intrusion detection and prevention system are required. The practical consideration for the implementation of the proposed schemes in practice is, however, neglected in the literature. This paper attempts to address this by generalising these considerations and using the lessons learned from water distribution systems as a case study. It was found that the considerations are similar irrespective of the application environment even though context-specific information is a requirement for effective deployment.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jsanElectrical, Electronic and Computer EngineeringSDG-07:Affordable and clean energySDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructur

A Novel Architecture for Cyber-Physical Security in Industrial Control Networks

Over the last decades, the evolution of information and communication technology has joined the automation and control systems development, leading to Cyber-Physical Systems integration in industrial environments. Since complex threats targeting physical processes require advanced and interdisciplinary security approaches, classic cyber-security tools are ineffective in industrial scenarios. In this paper, we present a modular framework able to provide cyber-physical security for industrial control systems. Our Deep Detection Architecture (DDA) fills the gap between computer science and control theoretic approaches. Moreover, we present an innovative cyber-physical simulation methodology as a baseline for validation purposes