Cyber security analysis of smart grid communications with a network simulator

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology for analyzing communication security in smart grid domains. As an application case, in this paper, we focus on information exchanges between Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and primary substations employed in the medium voltage control of active grids. The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) architecture of the application is modeled through a network simulator integrating the standard communication modules and the attack processes experimentally evaluated in a voltage control cyber security testbed. The paper presents the cross validation of the simulation model with the experimental traces, the sensitivity analysis with the validated model of the flooding attack effects on the communication performance and the scaling-up capability of the simulation model for the analysis of more realistic grid size.