Denial-of-Service Attack on IEC 61850-Based Substation Automation System: A Crucial Cyber Threat towards Smart Substation Pathways.

Suleman Ashraf,Mohammad H Shawon,Haris M Khalid,S M Muyeen

doi:10.3390/s21196415

Abstract

The generation of the mix-based expansion of modern power grids has urged the utilization of digital infrastructures. The introduction of Substation Automation Systems (SAS), advanced networks and communication technologies have drastically increased the complexity of the power system, which could prone the entire power network to hackers. The exploitation of the cyber security vulnerabilities by an attacker may result in devastating consequences and can leave millions of people in severe power outage. To resolve this issue, this paper presents a network model developed in OPNET that has been subjected to various Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to demonstrate cyber security aspect of an international electrotechnical commission (IEC) 61850 based digital substations. The attack scenarios have exhibited significant increases in the system delay and the prevention of messages, i.e., Generic Object-Oriented Substation Events (GOOSE) and Sampled Measured Values (SMV), from being transmitted within an acceptable time frame. In addition to that, it may cause malfunction of the devices such as unresponsiveness of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), which could eventually lead to catastrophic scenarios, especially under different fault conditions. The simulation results of this work focus on the DoS attack made on SAS. A detailed set of rigorous case studies have been conducted to demonstrate the effects of these attacks.

Highlights

In this era of rapid development of modern civilization, the electrical power grid is considered as one of the most important and critical infrastructures for any country.The evolution of smart grid and the introduction of Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICT) have made the power grid vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other security threats
Transformer 1 (T1) between bus bars B1 and bar 2 (B2) can be taken as the substation that will be simulated
CB1 and CB2 are connected to Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) in the bay level which control, monitor, and protect the power system

Summary

Introduction

Technologies (ICT) have made the power grid vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other security threats. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reports that there have been significant increases in the number of cyber-attacks on electrical power grids over the last decade [1]. In this context, NIST has outlined and set the three primary cyber security requirements for the smart grid. NIST has outlined and set the three primary cyber security requirements for the smart grid These three requirements are: (1) availability, (2) integrity, and (3) confidentiality, respectively [4]. They are further termed as the “essential criteria for cyber security”

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Results

Conclusion