Analysis of SDN Applications for Smart Grid Infrastructures

Abstract

Software-defined networking (SDN) has major advantages over traditional network setups. The SDN paradigm decreases management complexity of computer networks by separating the control layer from network devices, thereby centralizing management functionalities for easier administration of the network. Due to the nature of being a massively decentralized network, it will be beneficial to integrate smart grid infrastructures with SDN. Unfortunately, critical infrastructures such as smart grids are a worthwhile target for state-sponsored cyber attacks as the past has already shown. Therefore, this work will analyze the security impact of enabling smart grids with SDN by exploring different SDN attack vectors, which will have a negative impact on smart grid security. Furthermore, a security analysis of the smart grid communication layer will be conducted, which shows Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks to be a major security issue for smart grid. The analysis is followed by a presentation of the SDN-enabled smart grid simulation framework DSSnet, which allows to assess the impact of different attack scenarios on smart grid environments, such as DDoS attacks. Although impact estimation may help to mitigate financial loss related to DDoS attacks, such attacks will still have a critical impact on smart grid operability.