Threat Landscape of Next Generation IoT-Enabled Smart Grids

Abstract

The Smart Grids (SGs) consist of an emerging paradigm that pave the way for the power grids’ modernization and seek novel techniques for improving the transmittion and distribution of power to consumers, as well as achieving end- to-end real-time governance. Thus, the prospect of SGs are to behave intelligently, through the deployment of advanced technologies, applications and standards. A subset of such technologies and applications consists of Software Defined Netowrks (SDNs), Cloud Computing (CC), Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, Big Data applications, Internet-of-Things (IoT), 5G and wireless standards such as IEEE 802.15.4g and IEEE 802.16.1. The SGs, the CC and the IoT paradigms’ convergence lie on satisfying the clients’ needs, improving efficiency and in the same time maintaining overall control. However, the coupling of diverse technologies under a unified architecture raise multiple interdependencies which pose new challenges, ranging from the reliability of the whole power system to novel cyber-security risks. This paper sheds new light in the overall definition of the threat landscape that emerges by the convergence of CC and IoT in a SG.