Spatio-temporal characterization of synchrophasor data against spoofing attacks in smart grids

Abstract

“Source ID Mix” has emerged as a new type of highly deceiving attack which can alter the source information of synchrophasor data measured by multiple phasor measurement units(PMUs), thereby paralyzing many wide-area measurement systems(WAMS) applications. To address such sophisticated cyber attacks, we have exploited the spatio-temporal characteristics of synchrophasor data for authenticating measurements’ source information. Specifically, the source authentication is performed when the measurements are subjected to three types of spoofing attacks. Some practical difficulties in applying the proposed method on real-time authentication caused by insufficient measurement data have also been solved. Experimental results with real synchrophasor measurements have validated the effectiveness of the proposed method in detecting such complicated data spoofing and improving power systems’ cyber security.