1,361 research outputs found
Impact Assessment of Hypothesized Cyberattacks on Interconnected Bulk Power Systems
The first-ever Ukraine cyberattack on power grid has proven its devastation
by hacking into their critical cyber assets. With administrative privileges
accessing substation networks/local control centers, one intelligent way of
coordinated cyberattacks is to execute a series of disruptive switching
executions on multiple substations using compromised supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA) systems. These actions can cause significant impacts
to an interconnected power grid. Unlike the previous power blackouts, such
high-impact initiating events can aggravate operating conditions, initiating
instability that may lead to system-wide cascading failure. A systemic
evaluation of "nightmare" scenarios is highly desirable for asset owners to
manage and prioritize the maintenance and investment in protecting their
cyberinfrastructure. This survey paper is a conceptual expansion of real-time
monitoring, anomaly detection, impact analyses, and mitigation (RAIM) framework
that emphasizes on the resulting impacts, both on steady-state and dynamic
aspects of power system stability. Hypothetically, we associate the
combinatorial analyses of steady state on substations/components outages and
dynamics of the sequential switching orders as part of the permutation. The
expanded framework includes (1) critical/noncritical combination verification,
(2) cascade confirmation, and (3) combination re-evaluation. This paper ends
with a discussion of the open issues for metrics and future design pertaining
the impact quantification of cyber-related contingencies
Smart Grid Relay Protection and Network Resource Management for Real-Time Communications.
Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017
Technological advance in relay protection: dangerous tendencies
In the article, the modern lines in the development of relay protection are considered: complication, increasing number of functions, use of non-determined and free-programmed logic, use of Ethernet and Wi-Fi communications channels, decreasing reliability. The article highlights the danger of the existing tendencies in relay protection development and the necessity for creation of new lines of relay protection that are independent of the current developers and manufacturers. The article calls for creation of an Expert Coordination Council of specialists for development of the general strategy and ways of relay protection.Розглядаються сучасні тенденції розвитку релейного захисту: ускладнення, збільшення кількості виконуваних функцій, застосування недетермінованої та вільно-програмованої логіки, використання Ethernet та Wi-Fi каналів зв'язку, зниження надійності. Визначається небезпека існуючих тенденцій розвитку релейного захисту й необхідність створення незалежного від розробників та виробників реле захисту експертної координаційної ради фахівців для вироблення загальної стратегії та шляхів розвитку релейного захисту
On the assessment of cyber risks and attack surfaces in a real-time co-simulation cybersecurity testbed for inverter-based microgrids
The integration of variable distributed generations (DGs) and loads in microgrids (MGs) has made the reliance on communication systems inevitable for information exchange in both control and protection architectures to enhance the overall system reliability, resiliency and sustainability. This communication backbone in turn also exposes MGs to potential malicious cyber attacks. To study these vulnerabilities and impacts of various cyber attacks, testbeds play a crucial role in managing their complexity. This research work presents a detailed study of the development of a real-time co-simulation testbed for inverter-based MGs. It consists of a OP5700 real-time simulator, which is used to emulate both the physical and cyber layer of an AC MG in real time through HYPERSIM software; and SEL-3530 Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC) hardware configured with ACSELERATOR RTAC SEL-5033 software. A human–machine interface (HMI) is used for local/remote monitoring and control. The creation and management of HMI is carried out in ACSELERATOR Diagram Builder SEL-5035 software. Furthermore, communication protocols such as Modbus, sampled measured values (SMVs), generic object-oriented substation event (GOOSE) and distributed network protocol 3 (DNP3) on an Ethernet-based interface were established, which map the interaction among the corresponding nodes of cyber-physical layers and also synchronizes data transmission between the systems. The testbed not only provides a real-time co-simulation environment for the validation of the control and protection algorithms but also extends to the verification of various detection and mitigation algorithms. Moreover, an attack scenario is also presented to demonstrate the ability of the testbed. Finally, challenges and future research directions are recognized and discussed
Cybersecurity Challenges of Power Transformers
The rise of cyber threats on critical infrastructure and its potential for
devastating consequences, has significantly increased. The dependency of new
power grid technology on information, data analytic and communication systems
make the entire electricity network vulnerable to cyber threats. Power
transformers play a critical role within the power grid and are now commonly
enhanced through factory add-ons or intelligent monitoring systems added later
to improve the condition monitoring of critical and long lead time assets such
as transformers. However, the increased connectivity of those power
transformers opens the door to more cyber attacks. Therefore, the need to
detect and prevent cyber threats is becoming critical. The first step towards
that would be a deeper understanding of the potential cyber-attacks landscape
against power transformers. Much of the existing literature pays attention to
smart equipment within electricity distribution networks, and most methods
proposed are based on model-based detection algorithms. Moreover, only a few of
these works address the security vulnerabilities of power elements, especially
transformers within the transmission network. To the best of our knowledge,
there is no study in the literature that systematically investigate the
cybersecurity challenges against the newly emerged smart transformers. This
paper addresses this shortcoming by exploring the vulnerabilities and the
attack vectors of power transformers within electricity networks, the possible
attack scenarios and the risks associated with these attacks.Comment: 11 page
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