Cyber-Physical Attack Launched From EVSE Botnet

Abstract

With the development of electric vehicles, millions of electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) are integrated into the power grid. These EVSEs are weakly protected from cyber-attacks. By exploiting vulnerabilities, attackers could establish a botnet integrating hundred-MW-level EVSE loads from the Internet. Dynamic load-altering attack (DLAA) is powerful to amplify the load disturbance to destabilize the power grid. However, different from large-scale loads controlled by existing DLAA, the EVSE botnet is formulated by tens of thousands of bots widely distributed on various power grid nodes, rendering it challenging to be coordinated. In this paper, we analyze the approach to launching a DLAA from the distributed EVSE botnet. Firstly, we adopt a time-division model to evaluate the impact of communication limitations on the attack vectors of the botnet. Then we develop an analytical model to calculate the coordinated effect of attack vectors from different nodes and with varying phase angles; thus, we provide a foundation for the optimal coordination of distributed bots. Subsequently, considering the power grid has adopted defense measures to eliminate or suppress the attack, we formulate an optimization algorithm to make the attack robust against these potential defense measures. Numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.