Intelligent system for non-technical losses management in residential users of the electricity sector

The identification of irregular users is an important assignment in the recovery of energy in the distribution sector. This analysis requires low error levels to minimize non-technical electrical losses in power grid. However, the detection of fraudulent users who have billing does not present a generalized methodology. This issue is complex and varies according to the case study. This paper presents a novel methodology to identify residential fraudulent users by using intelligent systems. The proposed intelligent system consists of three fundamental modules. The first module performs the classification of users with similar power consumption curves using self-organizing maps and genetic algorithms. The second module allows carrying out the monthly electricity demand forecasting through of recursive adjustment of ARIMA models. The third module performs the detection of fraudulent users through an artificial neural network for pattern recognition. For the design and validation of the proposed intelligent system, several tests were performed in each developed module. The database used for the design and evaluation of the modules was constructed with data supplied by the energy distribution company of the Colombian Caribbean Region. The results obtained by the proposed intelligent system show a better performance versus the detection rates obtained by the company.La identificación de usuarios con consumo fraudulento es una actividad importante en la recuperación de energía en el sector de la distribución. Este análisis requiere bajos niveles de error para minimizar las pérdidas eléctricas no técnicas en la red de distribución. Sin embargo, la detección de usuarios fraudulentos con facturación no tiene una metodología generalizada. Este es un problema complejo y varía de acuerdo con cada caso de estudio. Este artículo presenta una nueva metodología para la identificación inteligente de usuarios fraudulentos residenciales basada en sistemas inteligentes. El sistema inteligente propuesto consiste en tres módulos fundamentales. El primer módulo clasifica a los usuarios con curvas de consumo similares a través de mapas auto-organizativos y algoritmo genéticos. El segundo módulo realiza la predicción de consumos mensuales mediante ajustes recursivos de modelos ARIMA. El tercer módulo es el responsable de llevar a cabo la detección de usuarios irregulares por medio de una red neuronal para reconocimiento de patrones. Para el diseño y validación del sistema inteligente propuesto se realizaron pruebas en cada módulo que lo integra para diferentes tipos de clientes del mercado. La base de datos utilizada para el diseño y evaluación de los módulos fue construida a partir de los datos suministrados por la empresa de distribución de energía de la Costa Caribe Colombiana. Los resultados obtenidos por el sistema inteligente propuesto muestran un mejor desempeño frente a los índices de detección obtenidos por la empresa

Anomaly Detection In Blockchain

Anomaly detection has been a well-studied area for a long time. Its applications in the financial sector have aided in identifying suspicious activities of hackers. However, with the advancements in the financial domain such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, it is more challenging to deceive financial systems. Despite these technological advancements many fraudulent cases have still emerged. Many artificial intelligence techniques have been proposed to deal with the anomaly detection problem; some results appear to be considerably assuring, but there is no explicit superior solution. This thesis leaps to bridge the gap between artificial intelligence and blockchain by pursuing various anomaly detection techniques on transactional network data of a public financial blockchain named 'Bitcoin'. This thesis also presents an overview of the blockchain technology and its application in the financial sector in light of anomaly detection. Furthermore, it extracts the transactional data of bitcoin blockchain and analyses for malicious transactions using unsupervised machine learning techniques. A range of algorithms such as isolation forest, histogram based outlier detection (HBOS), cluster based local outlier factor (CBLOF), principal component analysis (PCA), K-means, deep autoencoder networks and ensemble method are evaluated and compared

Detecting Energy Theft and Anomalous Power Usage in Smart Meter Data

The success of renewable energy usage is fuelling the power grids most significant transformation seen in decades, from a centrally controlled electricity supply towards an intelligent, decentralized infrastructure. However, as power grid components become more connected, they also become more vulnerable to cyber attacks, fraud, and software failures. Many recent developments focus on cyber-physical security, such as physical tampering detection, as well as traditional information security solutions, such as encryption, which cannot cover the entire challenge of cyber threats, as digital electricity meters can be vulnerable to software flaws and hardware malfunctions. With the digitalization of electricity meters, many previously solved security problems, such as electricity theft, are reintroduced as IT related challenges which require modern detection schemes based on data analysis, machine learning and forecasting. The rapid advancements in statistical methods, akin to machine learning techniques, resulted in a boosted interest towards concepts to model, forecast or extract load information, as provided by a smart meter, and detect tampering early on. Anomaly Detection Systems discovers tampering methods by analysing statistical deviations from a defined normal behaviour and is commonly accepted as an appropriate technique to uncover yet unknown patterns of misuse. This work proposes anomaly detection approaches, using the power measurements, for the early detection of tampered with electricity meters. Algorithms based on time series prediction and probabilistic models with detection rates above 90% were implemented and evaluated using various parameters. The contributions include the assessment of different dimensions of available data, introduction of metrics and aggregation methods to optimize the detection of specific pattern, and examination of sophisticated threads such as mimicking behaviour. The work contributes to the understanding of significant characteristics and normal behaviour of electric load data as well as evidence for tampering and especially energy theft

Performance Evaluation of Techniques for Identifying Abnormal Energy Consumption in Buildings

Energy consumption in buildings has steadily increased. Buildings consume more energy than necessary due to suboptimal design and operation. Apart from retro-fitting, not much can be done with the design of the existing building, but the operation of the building can be improved. Ignoring or failing to fix the faults can lead to problems like the higher cost in excess energy usage or premature component failure. At the same time understanding, identifying, and addressing abnormal energy consumption in buildings can lead to energy savings and detection of faulty appliances. This paper investigates two key challenges found in energy anomaly detection research: 1) the lack of labeled ground truth and 2) the lack of consistent performance accuracy metrics. In the first challenge, labeled ground truth is imperative for training and benchmarking algorithms to detect anomalies. In the second challenge, consistent performance accuracy metrics are crucial to quantifying how well algorithms perform against each other. There exists no publicly available energy consumption dataset with labeled anomaly events. Therefore, we propose two approaches that help in the automatic annotation of the ground truth data from publicly available datasets: a statistical approach for short-term data and a piecewise linear regression method for long-term data. We demonstrate these approaches using two publicly available datasets called Dataport (Pecan Street) and HUE. Using different existing accuracy metrics, we run a series of experiments on anomaly detection algorithms and discuss what metrics can be best used for consistent accuracy testing amongst researchers. In addition, while providing the source code, we also release an anomaly annotated dataset produced by this source code

Contextual Anomaly Detection Framework for Big Sensor Data

Performing predictive modelling, such as anomaly detection, in Big Data is a difficult task. This problem is compounded as more and more sources of Big Data are generated from environmental sensors, logging applications, and the Internet of Things. Further, most current techniques for anomaly detection only consider the content of the data source, i.e. the data itself, without concern for the context of the data. As data becomes more complex it is increasingly important to bias anomaly detection techniques for the context, whether it is spatial, temporal, or semantic. The work proposed in this thesis outlines a contextual anomaly detection framework for use in Big sensor Data systems. The framework uses a well-defined content anomaly detection algorithm for real-time point anomaly detection. Additionally, we present a post-processing context-aware anomaly detection algorithm based on sensor profiles, which are groups of contextually similar sensors generated by a multivariate clustering algorithm. The contextual anomaly detection framework is evaluated with respect to two different Big sensor Data data sets; one for electrical sensors, and another for temperature sensors within a building

Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels

Professor Lubin\u27s contribution is Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels, pp. 203-225. Existing legal literature would have us assume that espionage operations and “below-the-threshold” cyber operations are doctrinally distinct. Whereas one is subject to the scant, amorphous, and under-developed legal framework of espionage law, the other is subject to an emerging, ever-evolving body of legal rules, known cumulatively as cyber law. This dichotomy, however, is erroneous and misleading. In practice, espionage and cyber law function as communicating vessels, and so are better conceived as two elements of a complex system, Information Warfare (IW). This paper therefore first draws attention to the similarities between the practices – the fact that the actors, technologies, and targets are interchangeable, as are the knee-jerk legal reactions of the international community. In light of the convergence between peacetime Low-Intensity Cyber Operations (LICOs) and peacetime Espionage Operations (EOs) the two should be subjected to a single regulatory framework, one which recognizes the role intelligence plays in our public world order and which adopts a contextual and consequential method of inquiry. The paper proceeds in the following order: Part 2 provides a descriptive account of the unique symbiotic relationship between espionage and cyber law, and further explains the reasons for this dynamic. Part 3 places the discussion surrounding this relationship within the broader discourse on IW, making the claim that the convergence between EOs and LICOs, as described in Part 2, could further be explained by an even larger convergence across all the various elements of the informational environment. Parts 2 and 3 then serve as the backdrop for Part 4, which details the attempt of the drafters of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 to compartmentalize espionage law and cyber law, and the deficits of their approach. The paper concludes by proposing an alternative holistic understanding of espionage law, grounded in general principles of law, which is more practically transferable to the cyber realmhttps://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facbooks/1220/thumbnail.jp

Smart Urban Water Networks

This book presents the paper form of the Special Issue (SI) on Smart Urban Water Networks. The number and topics of the papers in the SI confirm the growing interest of operators and researchers for the new paradigm of smart networks, as part of the more general smart city. The SI showed that digital information and communication technology (ICT), with the implementation of smart meters and other digital devices, can significantly improve the modelling and the management of urban water networks, contributing to a radical transformation of the traditional paradigm of water utilities. The paper collection in this SI includes different crucial topics such as the reliability, resilience, and performance of water networks, innovative demand management, and the novel challenge of real-time control and operation, along with their implications for cyber-security. The SI collected fourteen papers that provide a wide perspective of solutions, trends, and challenges in the contest of smart urban water networks. Some solutions have already been implemented in pilot sites (i.e., for water network partitioning, cyber-security, and water demand disaggregation and forecasting), while further investigations are required for other methods, e.g., the data-driven approaches for real time control. In all cases, a new deal between academia, industry, and governments must be embraced to start the new era of smart urban water systems