A Method for Identifying Critical Elements of a Cyber-Physical System Under Data Attack

Abstract

In this paper, we use hyper-network methods to identify the critical elements of a cyber-physical system (CPS) under data attack according to IEC 61850. The related works are introduced first, such as cyber offensive tools, procedures, and data attack models. Some definitions of a hypergraph are presented. Then, considering the functional attributes of logical nodes, a hyper-network model of substation auto system (SAS) is proposed using hyper-graph theory. On this basis, a CPS model that takes into account the functional influence after data attack is established. In addition, combined with the analysis of the network model, the efficiency indexes are given to evaluate the effectiveness of the CPS under data attack. The reasons why we choose these indexes in network and hyper-network model are also explained. Finally, the analysis in the case study illustrates that the method proposed is helpful for identifying critical elements of the CPS, which provides a new avenue for future vulnerability analysis research.