Multi-Layer Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience for Smart Grid

The smart grid is a large-scale complex system that integrates communication technologies with the physical layer operation of the energy systems. Security and resilience mechanisms by design are important to provide guarantee operations for the system. This chapter provides a layered perspective of the smart grid security and discusses game and decision theory as a tool to model the interactions among system components and the interaction between attackers and the system. We discuss game-theoretic applications and challenges in the design of cross-layer robust and resilient controller, secure network routing protocol at the data communication and networking layers, and the challenges of the information security at the management layer of the grid. The chapter will discuss the future directions of using game-theoretic tools in addressing multi-layer security issues in the smart grid.Comment: 16 page

An Outline of Security in Wireless Sensor Networks: Threats, Countermeasures and Implementations

With the expansion of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the need for securing the data flow through these networks is increasing. These sensor networks allow for easy-to-apply and flexible installations which have enabled them to be used for numerous applications. Due to these properties, they face distinct information security threats. Security of the data flowing through across networks provides the researchers with an interesting and intriguing potential for research. Design of these networks to ensure the protection of data faces the constraints of limited power and processing resources. We provide the basics of wireless sensor network security to help the researchers and engineers in better understanding of this applications field. In this chapter, we will provide the basics of information security with special emphasis on WSNs. The chapter will also give an overview of the information security requirements in these networks. Threats to the security of data in WSNs and some of their counter measures are also presented

Resilient networking in wireless sensor networks

This report deals with security in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), especially in network layer. Multiple secure routing protocols have been proposed in the literature. However, they often use the cryptography to secure routing functionalities. The cryptography alone is not enough to defend against multiple attacks due to the node compromise. Therefore, we need more algorithmic solutions. In this report, we focus on the behavior of routing protocols to determine which properties make them more resilient to attacks. Our aim is to find some answers to the following questions. Are there any existing protocols, not designed initially for security, but which already contain some inherently resilient properties against attacks under which some portion of the network nodes is compromised? If yes, which specific behaviors are making these protocols more resilient? We propose in this report an overview of security strategies for WSNs in general, including existing attacks and defensive measures. In this report we focus at the network layer in particular, and an analysis of the behavior of four particular routing protocols is provided to determine their inherent resiliency to insider attacks. The protocols considered are: Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Gradient-Based Routing (GBR), Greedy Forwarding (GF) and Random Walk Routing (RWR)

Node Disjoint Random and Optimal Path Selection (NDROPS) Algorithm for Security in MANETS

Mobile Adhoc Networks are shortly called MANETs. In these types of networks, fixed infrastructures are absent and are dynamic in nature. Nodes are movable, and they are not connected with any wires. For monitoring or supervising the transmissions in MANETS, no central supervision is present. Moving nodes, dynamic topology, and absence of infrastructure are the features of MANETs. These features are advantageous where wires cannot be used and where nodes are supposed to move. But there is a problem of security. Networks are highly prone to attacks where finding the root of the cause is very hard. Many nodes disjoint routing algorithms are proposed to balance the load, to cope up with link failures, etc. This paper proposes an algorithm called Node Disjoint Random and Optimal Path Selection (NDROPS) algorithm which uses the concept of dynamic routing and node disjoint routing to provide all the above-stated advantages along with security. Routing of data packets is done through few paths which are node disjoint. The main essence of this algorithm is to distribute the data among different routes. So, a malicious node in a path can retrieve only a few packets in random.  The simulation of the proposed NDROPS algorithm is performed and the performance is compared using throughout and packet drop probability