PUF-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR SECURE COMMUNICATIONS IN ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE (AMI)

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) provides two-way communications between the utility and the smart meters. Developing authenticated key exchange (AKE) and broadcast authentication (BA) protocols to provide the security of unicast and broadcast communications in AMI is an essential part of AMI design. The security of all existing cryptographic protocols are based on the assumption that secret information are stored in the non-volatile memory of each party. These information must be kept unknown to the adversary. Unfortunately, in an AMI network, the attackers can obtain some or all of the stored secret information from non-volatile memories by a great variety of inexpensive and fast side channel attacks. Especially, the smart meters which are located in physically insecure environments are more vulnerable to these attacks. Thus, all existing AKE and BA protocols are no longer secure against such attacks. In this paper, we investigate how to develop secure AKE and BA protocols with the presence of memory attack. As a solution, we propose to embed a Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) in each communicating party which generate the secret values as required without need to store them. By combining PUFs and two well-known and secure protocols, we propose a PUF-based Authenticated Key Exchange protocol (PUF-AKE) for unicast communications and a PUF-based Broadcast Authentication (PUF-BA) for broadcast communications. We show that our proposed protocols are memory leakage resilient. Also, we prove the security of them in a standard model. Performance analysis of both of the protocols show they are efficient for AMI applications. The proposed protocols can be easily implemented in AMI networks

BSCSML: Design of an Efficient Bioinspired Security &Privacy Model for Cyber Physical System using Machine Learning

With the increasing prevalence of Smart Grid Cyber Physical Systems with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (SG CPS AMI), securing their internal components has become one of the paramount concerns. Traditional security mechanisms have proven to be insufficient in defending against sophisticated attacks. Bioinspired security and privacy models have emerged as promising solutions due to their stochastic solutions. This paper proposes a novel bio-inspired security and privacy model for SG CPS AMI that utilizes machine learning to strengthen their security levels. The proposed model is inspired by the hybrid Grey Wolf Teacher Learner based Optimizer (GWTLbO) Method’s ability to detect and respond to threats in real-time deployments. The GWTLbO Model also ensures higher privacy by selecting optimal methods between k-privacy, t-closeness & l-diversity depending upon contextual requirements. This study improves system accuracy and efficiency under diverse attacks using machine learning techniques. The method uses supervised learning to teach the model to recognize known attack trends and uncontrolled learning to spot unknown attacks. Our model was tested using real-time IoT device data samples. The model identified Zero-Day Attacks, Meter Bypass, Flash Image Manipulation, and Buffer-level attacks. The proposed model detects and responds to attacks with high accuracy and low false-positive rates. In real-time operations, the proposed model can handle huge volumes of data efficiently. The bioinspired security and privacy model secures CPS efficiently and is scalable for various cases. Machine learning techniques can improve the security and secrecy of these systems and revolutionize defense against different attacks

Key Management Systems for Smart Grid Advanced Metering Infrastructure: A Survey

Smart Grids are evolving as the next generation power systems that involve changes in the traditional ways of generation, transmission and distribution of power. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is one of the key components in smart grids. An AMI comprises of systems and networks, that collects and analyzes data received from smart meters. In addition, AMI also provides intelligent management of various power-related applications and services based on the data collected from smart meters. Thus, AMI plays a significant role in the smooth functioning of smart grids. AMI is a privileged target for security attacks as it is made up of systems that are highly vulnerable to such attacks. Providing security to AMI is necessary as adversaries can cause potential damage against infrastructures and privacy in smart grid. One of the most effective and challenging topic's identified, is the Key Management System (KMS), for sustaining the security concerns in AMI. Therefore, KMS seeks to be a promising research area for future development of AMI. This survey work highlights the key security issues of advanced metering infrastructures and focuses on how key management techniques can be utilized for safeguarding AMI. First of all, we explore the main features of advanced metering infrastructures and identify the relationship between smart grid and AMI. Then, we introduce the security issues and challenges of AMI. We also provide a classification of the existing works in literature that deal with secure key management system in AMI. Finally, we identify possible future research directions of KMS in AMI

A Survey on Cryptography Key Management Schemes for Smart Grid

A Smart grid is a modern electricity delivery system. It is an integration of energy systems and other necessary elements including traditional upgrades and new grid technologies with renewable generation and increased consumer storage. It uses information and communication technology (ICT) to operate, monitor and control data between the generation source and the end user. Smart grids have duplex power flow and communication to achieve high efficiency, reliability, environmental, economics, security and safety standards. However, along with unique facilities, smart grids face security challenges such as access control, connectivity, fault tolerance, privacy, and other security issues. Cyber-attacks, in the recent past, on critical infrastructure including smart grids have highlighted security as a major requirement for smart grids. Therefore, cryptography and key management are necessary for smart grids to become secure and realizable. Key management schemes are processes of key organizational frameworks, distribution, generation, refresh and key storage policies. Currently, several secure schemes, related to key management for smart grid have been proposed to achieve end-to-end secure communication. This paper presents a comprehensive survey and discussion on the current state of the key management of smart grids

Authentication techniques in smart grid: a systematic review

Smart Grid (SG) provides enhancement to existing grids with two-way communication between the utility, sensors, and consumers, by deploying smart sensors to monitor and manage power consumption. However due to the vulnerability of SG, secure component authenticity necessitates robust authentication approaches relative to limited resource availability (i.e. in terms of memory and computational power). SG communication entails optimum efficiency of authentication approaches to avoid any extraneous burden. This systematic review analyses 27 papers on SG authentication techniques and their effectiveness in mitigating certain attacks. This provides a basis for the design and use of optimized SG authentication approaches

Secure Data Provenance in Home Energy Monitoring Networks

Smart grid empowers home owners to efficiently manage their smart home appliances within a Home Area Network (HAN), by real time monitoring and fine-grained control. However, it offers the possibility for a malicious user to intrude into the HAN and deceive the smart metering system with fraudulent energy usage report. While most of the existing works have focused on how to prevent data tampering in HAN's communication channel, this paper looks into a relatively less studied security aspect namely data provenance. We propose a novel solution based on Shamir's secret sharing and threshold cryptography to guarantee that the reported energy usage is collected from the specific appliance as claimed at a particular location, and that it reflects the real consumption of the energy. A byproduct of the proposed security solution is a guarantee of data integrity. A prototype implementation is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed solution

A user-centric privacy-preserving authentication protocol for IoT-AmI environments

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) in Internet of Things (IoT) has empowered healthcare professionals to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients remotely. Besides, the AmI-IoT has improved patient engagement and gratification as doctors’ interactions have become more comfortable and efficient. However, the benefits of the AmI-IoT-based healthcare applications are not availed entirely due to the adversarial threats. IoT networks are prone to cyber attacks due to vulnerable wireless mediums and the absentia of lightweight and robust security protocols. This paper introduces computationally-inexpensive privacy-assuring authentication protocol for AmI-IoT healthcare applications. The use of blockchain & fog computing in the protocol guarantees unforgeability, non-repudiation, transparency, low latency, and efficient bandwidth utilization. The protocol uses physically unclonable functions (PUF), biometrics, and Ethereum powered smart contracts to prevent replay, impersonation, and cloning attacks. Results prove the resource efficiency of the protocol as the smart contract incurs very minimal gas and transaction fees. The Scyther results validate the robustness of the proposed protocol against cyber-attacks. The protocol applies lightweight cryptography primitives (Hash, PUF) instead of conventional public-key cryptography and scalar multiplications. Consequently, the proposed protocol is better than centralized infrastructure-based authentication approaches

Survey in Smart Grid and Smart Home Security: Issues, Challenges and Countermeasures

The electricity industry is now at the verge of a new era. An era that promises, through the evolution of the existing electrical grids to Smart Grids, more efficient and effective power management, better reliability, reduced production costs and more environmentally friendly energy generation. Numerous initiatives across the globe, led by both industry and academia, reflect the mounting interest around the enormous benefits but also the great risks introduced by this evolution. This paper focuses on issues related to the security of the Smart Grid and the Smart Home, which we present as an integral part of the Smart Grid. Based on several scenarios we aim to present some of the most representative threats to the Smart Home / Smart Grid environment. The threats detected are categorized according to specific security goals set for the Smart Home/Smart Grid environment and their impact on the overall system security is evaluated. A review of contemporary literature is then conducted with the aim of presenting promising security countermeasures with respect to the identified specific security goals for each presented scenario. An effort to shed light on open issues and future research directions concludes the paper

Smart Grid Metering Networks: A Survey on Security, Privacy and Open Research Issues

Smart grid (SG) networks are newly upgraded networks of connected objects that greatly improve reliability, efficiency and sustainability of the traditional energy infrastructure. In this respect, the smart metering infrastructure (SMI) plays an important role in controlling, monitoring and managing multiple domains in the SG. Despite the salient features of SMI, security and privacy issues have been under debate because of the large number of heterogeneous devices that are anticipated to be coordinated through public communication networks. This survey paper shows a brief overview of real cyber attack incidents in traditional energy networks and those targeting the smart metering network. Specifically, we present a threat taxonomy considering: (i) threats in system-level security, (ii) threats and/or theft of services, and (iii) threats to privacy. Based on the presented threats, we derive a set of security and privacy requirements for SG metering networks. Furthermore, we discuss various schemes that have been proposed to address these threats, considering the pros and cons of each. Finally, we investigate the open research issues to shed new light on future research directions in smart grid metering networks

Distributed Energy Resources, Virtual Power Plants, and the Smart Grid

The specific focus of this Article is on the virtual power plant (VPP) concept, an intriguing idea that involves an aggregation of DERs to provide a fleet of resources that can serve as the functional equivalent of a traditional power plant. As the name suggests, this fleet of DERs can add up in the aggregate to the equivalent of a significant resource. Under certain conditions, this resource can be used on the grid (i.e., dispatched) much as a conventional power plant would be. This could reduce demand for fossil fuel-fired plants by enabling a utility to avoid generating electricity or purchasing it in wholesale markets. Increased availability of DR can also help with the integration of DG into the grid. If it is predictable and controllable, it can be called upon by a utility or wholesale market to facilitate DG integration by smoothing out the peaks and valleys of demand for electricity, counterbalancing the inherent variability of DG sources such as solar and wind. Research and early pilot projects are testing the VPP concept, and several utilities are embarking on plans to deploy VPPs more broadly. This Article describes one such deployment, the VPP project underway at the San Antonio, Texas-based utility CPS Energy.26 When complete, the CPS VPP will use the advanced technologies and two-way communications capabilities of the Smart Grid ( smart meters and associated software and hardware) to link together up to 140,000 homes and provide DR equivalent to the output of a 250 megawatts (MW) power plant. The CPS Energy pilot and others will test the fleet of resources concept and may yield valuable information to guide its expansion elsewhere. In Part II, this Article discusses the concept of demand response and its relationship to Smart Grid technologies. Part III discusses the specific challenges of integrating DERs into the grid, focusing on the potential for DR to help integrate the large number of DG sources expected to come on line in the future into the grid, and specifically on the concept of regulation, or frequency control of the grid. Parts IV and V analyze the VPP concept, with specifics about the CPS Energy program, and a description of challenges facing the expansion of the VPP concept elsewhere