Cyber-security of smart grids

CYBER-SECURITY OF
SMART GRIDS
Presented by Hamza Al-Bzour

CONTENTS
Introduction
What is Smart Grid
Why Smart Grid
Cyber Security of Smart Grid
Security requirements and objectives
Security Challenges and attacks
Solutions and attack detection
Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
⚫ Nations across the world face the challenge of increasing power production while reducing the
carbon footprint. They need to minimize power loss and downtime, harness alternative power
sources, and so on.
⚫ The numerous challenges facing them have one solution – smart grids.
⚫ While smart grid bring improvements in cost and performance, the security of the power grids
becomes more complex and riskier, calling for a comprehensive and integrated solution.

WHAT IS SMART GRID
• A smart grid uses digital technology to improve reliability, security and efficiency (both economic and
energy) of the electric system from large generation, through the delivery system to electricity
consumers and a growing number of distributed generation and storage resources.
SMART GRID = POWER GRID + ICT
• Understanding Smart Grid:
⚫ System (G,T,D) with an advanced two-way communication system
⚫ Enables real-time monitoring and control
⚫ Consequently, enablescost reduction and efficiency improvement

INFORMATIONAND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY
⚫ ICT are core of successful smart grid implementation.
⚫ Systems (G,T,D) , consumption, marketing, retailing etc are heavily based on ICT
infrastructures.
⚫ Using ICT, the smart grid becomes more reliability, security and efficiency.

FUNCTIONS OF ICT’S IN G,T,D
⚫ IN ‘G’Domain
✓ Automation of bulk generation and DER operations.
✓ Synchronizing and adjusting the voltage levels.
⚫ IN ‘T’Domain
✓ Automation of the transmission power grid (SCADA/EMS)
⚫ IN ‘D’Domain
✓ DMS improves classical outage management systems (OMS) by automation
✓ Real-time adjustmentsbyAdvanced DistributionAutomation

WHY SMART GRID?
The traditional power system :
• The present infrastructure is overstrained and inter region bulk transfer is limited
• Cannot fully support the integration of renewable energy
• Low reliability of power – outage
• Low efficiency

WHAT SMART GRID DOES?
• Decentralization of generating resources
• Integration of all sources of energy, mainly renewable
• Continuous monitoring and feedback from the network
• Anticipation of faults and helps in fault prevention
• Two way communication between the utilities and the consumers
• Reduces the stress on the power system infrastructure
• Continuous self learning

COMPARISON
Conventional Grid Smart Grid
Electromechanical Digital
One way communication Two way communication
Centralized generation Distributed generation
Manual monitoring Self monitoring
Manual restoration Self healing

CYBER-SECURITY OF SMART GRIDS
⚫ IT technologies can make the grid smart
✓ Real time monitoring (PMUs, Smart meters)
✓ Advanced information analysis (Big data)
✓ Automated control (Self-healing, Smart actuators)

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS OF SMART GRIDS
1. Confidentiality:
the confidentiality criterion requires protecting both personal privacy and proprietary
information from being accessed or disclosed by unauthorized entities, individuals, or
processes.
For instance, information such as control of a meter,metering usage,and billing
information that is sent between a customer and various entities must be confidential
and protected;otherwise the customer’s information could be manipulated,modified,
or used for other

2. Availability :
Availability is defined as ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information.
It is considered the most important security criterion in smart grid because the loss of
availability means disruption of access to information in a smart grid
For example,loss of availability can disturb the operation of the control system by
blocking the information’s flow through the network, and therefore denying the
network’s availability to control the system’s operators.

3. Integrity :
Integrity in smart grid means protecting against improper modification or destruction
of the information.
For example,power injection is a malicious attack launched by an adversary who
intelligently modifies the measurements and relays them from the power injection
meters and power flow to the state estimator

RECONNAISSANCE
Includes:
1. Social Engineering :
Social engineering (SE), relies on social skills and human interaction rather than technical skills. An
attacker uses communication and persuasion to win the trust of a legitimate user and get credential
and confidential information such as passwords or PIN number to log on into a particular system
2. Traffic Attacks:
The traffic analysis attack is used to listen to the traffic and analyze it in order to determine the devices
and the hosts connected to the network along with their IP addresses
Social engineering and traffic analysis compromise mainly the confidentiality of the information.

SCANNING
• Scanning attack is the next step used to discover all the devices and the hosts alive on the network.
There are four types of scans:IPs, ports, services, and vulnerabilities
• Generally, an attacker starts with an IPs scan to identify all the hosts connected in the network along
with their IP addresses. Next, he or she goes deeper by scanning the ports in order to determine
which port is open. This scan is executed on each discovered host on the network. The attacker then
moves on to the service scan in order to find out the service or system running behind each opened
port.
• The final step, vulnerabilities scan, aims to identify the weaknesses and vulnerabilities related to
each service on the target machine to exploit it afterward.
• These attacks target mainly the confidentiality of the smart grid.

EXPLOITATION
This is the next step and it includes:
• Viruses, Worms and Trojan horses:
A virus is a program used to infect a specific device or a system in smart grid.
A worm is self-replicating program.It uses the network to spread,to copy itself,and to infect
other devices and systems.
A Trojan horse is a program that appears to perform a legitimate task on the target system.
However,it runs a malicious code in the background.An attacker uses this type of malware to
upload a virus or worm on the target system.

EXPLOITATION
• Denial of service (DOS) attacks
Several methods are used :
1. SYN (flood) Attacks :
Exploits the three-way handshake (SYN,SYN-ACK,ACK) used to establish a TCP session.The attacker floods a target
systemwith connection requests without responding to the replays,forcing the systemto crash.The Modbus/TCP
protocol is vulnerable to these attacks since it operates over TCP
2. Buffer overflow :
In buffer overflow,the attacker sends a huge amount of data to a specific system,thereby exhausting its resources.
For example,the ping-of-deathis considered as a buffer overflow attack as it exploits the internet control message
protocol (ICMP) by sending more that 65K octets of data.It then makes the systemcrash.

EXPLOITATION
3. Teardrop attack:
An attacker alters and modifies the length and the fragmentation offset fields in sequential IP packets. Once
the target system receives these packets, it crashes because the instructions on how the fragments are offset
within these packets are contradictory.
4. Smurf attack:
The attacker targets not only a specific system, but it can saturate and congest the traffic of an entire network.
It consists of three elements: the source site, the bounce site, and the target site. For source site, the adversary
sends a spoofed packet to the broadcast address of the bounce site.These packets contain the IP address of
the target system. Once the bounce site receives the forged packets, it broadcasts them to all hosts
connected to the network and then causes these hosts to replay,saturating the target system.

EXPLOITATION
5. Puppet attack :
Targets the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network by exploiting a vulnerability in dynamic source
routing (DSR) protocol and then exhausting the communication network bandwidth. Due to this attack, the
packet delivery drops between 10% and 20%
6. The time-delay-switch (TDS) attack: consists of introducing a delay in control system creating instability
in the smart grid system.
7. The time synchronization (TSA) attack:
targets mainly the timing information in smart grid.Because power grid operations such as fault detection
and event location estimation depend highly on precise time information, and also most of the measurement
devices in smart grid are equipped with global positioning system (GPS),attack such as TSA, which spoof the
GPS information, could have a high impact on the system

EXPLOITATION
• Denial of service (DOS) attack
DOS represents a significant threat to the smart grid system because communication
and control messages in such a system are time critical, and a delay of few seconds
could compromise the system availability.

EXPLOITATION
• The man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack:
Performed when an attacker inserts itself between two legitimate devices and listens,
performs an injection,or intercepts the traffic between them.The attacker is connected to
both devices and relays the traffic between them.These legitimate devices appear to
communicate directlywhen in fact they are communicating via a third-device [1].For
example,an attacker could conduct a MITM,by placing himself on an Ethernet network to
alter or misrepresent I/O values to the human machine interface (HMI) and programmable
logic controllers (PLC).
The MITM could also be used to interceptTCP/IP communicationbetween the substation
gatewayand the transmission SCADA server

EXPLOITATION
• Replay Attack:
an attacker could maliciously capture packets,inject a specific packet,and replay them to the
legitimate destinations,compromising then the communication’s integrity.
Intelligent electronic device (IED),which is a device designed for controlling and communicating
with the SCADA system,could be targeted by replay attacks so that false measurements are
injected in a specific register.
Replay attack could also be used to alter the behavior the programmable logic controllers (PLC)

EXPLOITATION
• Jamming channel attack:
an adversary exploits the shared nature of the wireless network and sends a random or
continuous flow of packets in order to keep the channel busy and then prevents
legitimate devices from communicating and exchanging data.
• Popping the HMI:
an attack that exploits a known device’s vulnerability, especially device’s software or
OS vulnerabilities, and then installs a remote shell, allowing the attacker to connect
remotely to the server from his computer to get unauthorized access in order to
monitor and control the compromised system.

EXPLOITATION
• Masquerade attack:
a malicious person may pretend to be a legitimate user in order to gain access to a system or gain greater
privileges to perform unauthorized actions.
• Integrity violation attack:
Integrity violation attacks aim to violate the integrity and/or the accountability of the smart grid by altering
intentionally or unintentionally the data stored in a given device in the network. For instance, a customer
could perform this attack to alter the smart meter data in order to reduce his electricity bill.
• Privacy violation attack:
Privacy violation attack aims to violate privacy by collecting private information about customers [28].For
example, as smart meters collect electricity usage many times per hour, information about the user
electricity’s consumption could be obtained. Thus, if a meter does not show electricity usage for a period of
time, that commonly indicates that the house is empty. This information could then be used to conduct a
physical attack like burglary.

MAINTAINING ACCESS
• The final step!
• The attacker uses a special type of attack to gain permanent access to the target,
especially backdoors, viruses, and Trojan horses.
• A backdoor is an undetectable program, stealthy installed on the target to get back
later easily and quickly.
• If the attacker succeeds in embedding a backdoor into the servers of the control
center of the SCADA, he or she can launch several attacks against the system which
can cause a severe impact on the power system

DETECTION AND COUNTERMEASURES
• A number of attack detection and countermeasure techniques are proposed in the literature to counter
cyber attacks.
For instance, Özçelik I. et al in [3] proposed a solution for distributed denial of service (DDos).
In [4],Lu Z. et al. proposed a technique to detect jamming channel attacks.
Though these security solutions contribute to the smart grid’s security, they are insufficient to face
sophisticated and blended attacks.
Moreover, Stuxnet [5] showed that strategy like “Defense indepth” or “security by obscurity” are no longer
considered as valid solutions. We believe that security cannot be achieved through one specific solution, but
by deploying several techniques incorporated into a global strategy.
In this section, and as Fig. 5 shows, proposed a cyber security strategy composed of three phases: pre-attack,
under attack, and postattack. As follows, and for each phase,relevant published solutions in terms of security
protocols, security technology, cryptography, and other cyber-attack countermeasures are described.

DETECTION AND COUNTERMEASURES
< PRE-ATTACK >
• During this first phase, pre-attack, various published solutions are recommended to
enhance the smart grid’s security and to be prepared for any potential attack.
• Security countermeasures commonly fall into three categories: network security,
cryptography, and device security.
• There is technologies and secure protocols such as IDS, SIEM, DLP and secure DNP3
for the network security.
• Encryption, authentication, and key management for the data security.
• Finally, Host IDS, compliance checks, and diversity technique for the device security.

PRE-ATTACK
(NETWORK SECURITY)
• The network is the backboneof a smart grid. So,network security plays a significant role
in securing the entire system.
• Using firewalls supplemented with other monitoring and inspection technologies is
recommended to secure the smart grid network.
• A firewall is intended to allow or deny network connections based on specific rules and
policies.But an unknownor an advancedattack technique can easily bypass many firewall
techniques.
• Therefore,firewalls should be associated with other security technologies such as
intrusion detection system (IDS),security information and event management systems
(SIEM), and network data loss prevention (DLP)

PRE-ATTACK
(NETWORK SECURITY)
• IDS is a system developed for detecting malicious activity either on a network or on a
specific host.
• SIEMS are information management systems that collect and gather information such
as operating system logs, application logs, and network flow from all devices in the
network. Then the collected information will be analyzed and processed by a
centralized server in order to detect any potential threat or a malicious activity in the
network.
• Network DLP is a system responsible for preventing the loss or the theft of the data
across the network

PRE-ATTACK
(NETWORK SECURITY)
• In addition to these security systems, secure network protocols such as IPsec,
transport layer security (TLS), secure sockets layer (SSL), secure DNP3 can also be
used to enhance security in the network. DNP3 is an industrial protocol widely used
in smart gird.
• In recent years, the increased number of cyberattacks targeting industrial and power
system has attracted the attention of a number of researchers in both industry and
academia.
• Secured variation of DNP3 protocols has been released named secure DNP3.This
secured version added a secure layer for encryption and authentication between the
TCP/IP and application layer. Using such a protocol, several attacks can be avoided

PRE-ATTACK
(CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR DATA SECURITY)
• Encryption mechanisms aim to ensure data’s confidentiality,integrity,and nonrepudiation.
• There are two types of key encryptions:symmetric and asymmetric.
• In symmetric key encryption,or single-key encryption,one key is used to encrypt and to
decrypt data. Asymmetric key encryption,on the other hand,uses two keys to encrypt
and decrypt data: private key and public key.
• In smart grid,various components with different computational capabilities co-exist.
Therefore,both symmetric and asymmetric key encryption can be used,and the selection
depends on several factors,including data criticality,time constraints,and computational
resources

PRE-ATTACK
(CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR DATA SECURITY)
• Authentication is defined as the act of verifying that an object’s identity is valid,such
as the use of a password. An object could be a user, a smart device,or any
component connected to the smart grid network. Multicast authentication is a
particular type of authentication and its applications are widely used in smart grid.
• Key management is a crucial approach for encryption and authentication. Public key
management (PKI), or shared secret key management, can be used to ensure
authenticity for communication across networks. In PKI infrastructure, the identities of
two parties is verified by a certificate delivered from a third party called the
certificate authority (CA). This mechanism is done before establishing any
connection between the two parties

PRE-ATTACK
)DEVICE SECURITY (
• Device protection is the third crucial element in the supply chain of smart grid
security. Many research papers and recommendation reports have been published
contributing to security assurance for endpoints.

UNDER ATTCK
• This step is divided into two tasks:attack detection and attack mitigation.Several
approaches and technologies can be used during each task,to detect the malicious
activity,and then deploy the appropriate countermeasures..
• During the attack detection,all the deployed security technologiesare recommended,
including SIEMS,DLP,and IDS
• But,some of these solutions have a number of limitations and need improvements,
particularlyIDS.IDS is a widely used security system in IT network,and it is also used in
smart grid network;but,it has many performance limitations specially reporting high rate
of false positive.
• Thus,many research papers were published to improve the IDS performancein the smart
context

POST-ATTACK
• When an attack is not detected,the post-attack period is an important step.
• First, it is critical to identify the entity involved in the attack.
• Then, the IDS signature, anti-virus database and security policies must be kept up to
date by learning from attacks and to protect the smart grid against future similar
attacks.
• Forensic analysis is the primary technique used during the post-attack.Smart grid
forensic studies collect, analyze, and intercept digital data in order to identify the
entity involved in the event

CONCLUSION
⚫ Cyber security in the smart grid is still under research and needs more investigation to overcome
the vulnerabilities and threats.
⚫ Cyber security in the smart grid is a critical issue that received attention of researchers and
industry professionals.
⚫ Cyber-physical system security demands additional security requirementssuch as continuity of
power delivery and other features.

REFERENCES
1. Cyber-Security in Smart Grid: Survey and Challenges, Computer and Electrical Engineering, V.67,
Elsevier, 2018
2. Salsabeel, Fatma, Raafat (2015) ‘Smart grid cyber security: challenges and solutions’
3. İ. Özçelik and R. R. Brooks, “Cusum - entropy: an efficient method for DDoS attack detection,” in 4th
International Istanbul Smart Grid Congress and Fair (ICSG), 2016, pp.1–5.
4. Z. Lu, W.Wang, and C.Wang,“From jammer to gambler: Modeling and detection of jamming attacks
against time-critical traffic,”in Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM, 2011,pp. 1871–1879
5. D. Kushner,“The real story of stuxnet,” IEEE Spectrum, vol. 50, no. 3, pp.48–53, Mar.2013.

Cyber-security of smart grids

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