Open AccessStudy on attack paths of cyber attack in cyber‐physical power systems
Author(s) -
Chen Lei,
Yue Dong,
Dou Chunxia,
Chen Jianbo,
Cheng Zihao
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iet generation, transmission and distribution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1751-8695
pISSN - 1751-8687
DOI - 10.1049/iet-gtd.2019.1330
Subject(s) - cyber physical system , cyber attack , computer science , attack model , computer security , computer network , electric power system , telecommunications network , router , packet drop attack , power (physics) , routing protocol , network packet , operating system , physics , quantum mechanics , link state routing protocol
By means of advanced information and communication technology, cyber‐physical power systems can attain real‐time monitor and control but have to suffer the damage caused by a cyber attack. In this study, the authors' define attack efficiency to evaluate attack paths that attacker may adopt to intrude systems, to find the most efficient attack paths (i.e. the most vulnerable paths). Based on the actual power grid and security stability control system, the coupling model of cyber‐physical power systems is established to analyse the propagation of cascading failure within and across the physical power grid and communication network. In the attack model, the attack cost matrix is built to describe the cost between directly connected nodes in a communication network. Furthermore, considering the probability that control commands are successfully transmitted from router nodes to generator/substation nodes, the total attack cost from the communication network to the physical power grid is figured out. To search for the most vulnerable attack paths in systems, the attack efficiency is proposed to quantify the relation between attack cost and attack gain, wherein the attack gain is the damage on systems caused by the cyber attack.