Data integrity attack on consensns-based distributed energy management algorithm

Abstract

Over the years, the well-known consensus algorithm has been widely applied to solve the energy management problems in a fully distributed manner, due to its scalability, robustness against communication failures and privacy protection features. However, this distributed approach is vulnerable to data integrity attack as there is no control center to monitor the correctness of the shared information. In this paper, we demonstrate how a malicious attacker could manipulate the energy schedule result by sending out false information and misleading other devices in the system. This attack can lead to extra economic benefit for the attacker, while causing financial loss to the social welfare. By revealing such potential financial risks, this paper conveys the message that besides the efforts of designing novel distributed energy management algorithms, it is equally important to protect the distributed energy management algorithms from possible malicious cyber-attacks. The proposed attack is illustrated in the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) system.