Security data extraction from IEC 61850 ACSI models for network and system management

Abstract

The international standard IEC 62351 proposed the format of abstract data object for secure smart grid controls which is named as Network and System Management (NSM). It is devised to respond not only deliberate attacks such as cyber hacking and sabotage, but also inadvertent actions, such as operator carelessness and equipment failure. And it consists of three main parts, communication health, end system health, and intrusion detection, respectively However, the description of the abstract data object in the standard is so obscure that it is not enough to implement a complete system. Furthermore, to interact between devices and gather information for NSM in power systems, additional network protocols and devices (e.g. SNMP, IDS) should be needed, which makes the implementation more difficult. Nevertheless, mapping of three parts of NSM into detailed structure is indispensable for designing secure smart grid controls. This paper presents efficient NSM attributes extraction from data objects and logical nodes defined in IEC 61850 part 7-3 and 7-4, respectively by using Abstract Communication Service Interface (ACSI) in part 7-2. The proposed method extracts 21% of NSM from conventional protocol (IEC 61850) without any other network protocol or devices attachment. The 2nd edition was referenced for data extraction in IEC 61850 part 7-2 to 7-4. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.