Cybersecurity and IEC 62351 for SCADA Systems of Power Grid

Abstract

As Information and Communication Technology (ICT) brought automation and improved the efficiency and performance of electric power supply systems from generation to end utilization of electricity by consumers, it has also increased the chances of cyber attacks and threats. However, automation is inevitable, and it is required to take care of the prevention, detection and mitigation of cyber threats and make the grid resilient. Globally, work is happening in this direction, especially in the last decade, as more and smarter grid systems are being deployed, which involves extensive use of ICT and automation of grid operation. The national and international standards organizations are also working towards developing standards for making the grid resilient to cyber threats. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is one of the important standardization organizations that brought out a series of IEC 62351 standards (IEC 62351:2024 SER Power systems management and associated information exchange - Data and communications security - ALL PARTS) for data and communication security for power system operation. In this paper how the IEC 62351 series of standards could be applied to the SCADA systems in making the grid resilient to cyber threats with more focus emphasized on the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) communication with the SCADA control centre of the Power system operation has been explained. Also, laboratory testing of RTUs for conformance to IEC 62351 standards and its results are discussed. The laboratory testing of sample RTUs shows that many of the manufacturer's implementations differ from the standard specifications. Deployment of RTUs not following the IEC 62351 specifications in the field may lead to security threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks.