Effects of Malware Attacks on the Cascading Failure of Cyber-physical Power System

Abstract

In this paper, a stochastic cascading failure model considering the structure and operation of cyber-physical power system is proposed. The model takes into account the community structure and the heterogeneity of networks as well as the complex interdependence of coupling networks. Moreover, the malware spreading in the cyber network and the power flow redistribution in the power grid are considered to describe the dynamic operational characteristics of the system, and a stochastic method is adopted to describe the operating state transition of network components. In addition, the effects of community structure strength and immunization strategy on the cascading failure of coupled system are studied. The results show that the cascading failure of coupled system is the result of malware attacks repeatedly triggering the power grid. Results also suggest increasing the community structure strength of cyber network helps to suppress the impact of cyber-attacks on the coupled system, and community bridge immunization is the optimal immunization strategy for inhibiting failure propagation in the modular interdependent network.