University Network Security: Smart Grid Threats and Solutions

This report provides a comprehensive overview of network security, particularly within the context of smart grid systems. It begins with an introduction to smart grids, highlighting their operational and energy measures, including smart appliances and meters. The report then transitions into a literature review, summarizing key research on smart grid network architecture, its advantages, and the challenges related to integration of renewable energy sources and the advancement in information and communication technologies. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to evaluating current and potential security issues, focusing on cyber security threats, IP-related vulnerabilities, and the impact of intelligent devices. The report then explores potential solutions, such as information sharing and protecting soft targets like smart meters. A case study on the 2015 and 2016 Ukraine power grid attacks is presented to illustrate the real-world implications of these threats. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of network security for smart grids.

Running head: OVERVIEW OF THE NETWORK SECURITY
Overview of the Network Security
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Table of Contents
Introduction:..............................................................................................................................2
Literature Review:......................................................................................................................2
Security issues with the Smart Grid Network:...........................................................................4
Possible Solutions for the identified threats:.............................................................................4
Recent attack on power systems:..............................................................................................5
Conclusion:.................................................................................................................................5
Reference:..................................................................................................................................6

Introduction:
The smart grid is a typical type of electrical grid which includes several types of
operational and energy measures [9]. The smart grid includes smart appliances, smart
meters, renewable energy sources and other type of energy efficient resources.
In this case Smart Grid is in use by the CPS technologies. This is used for developing
and implementing several measurement sciences for modernization of existing power
system of the Nation’s electrical power systems. By the modernization of the existing power
system efficiency of the system, sustainability and reliability will be improved by the
incorporation distributed intelligence, power flows and bi-directional communication. To
implement a smart power grid communication infrastructure and the wireless networks
plays a big role.
In this paper a literature review on the Smart Grid Network will be given to describe
the smart grid network properly. Following the literature review current or potential future
security issues in the smart grid network will be evaluated briefly. In the next discussion,
solution of the identified issues will be described. Further in this paper a case study will be
discussed on recent attack on power systems.
Literature Review:
According to the author Radhika, Sivalingam and Anand, the smart grid network is
mainly designed for enhancing the existing power systems which makes the current system
independent and spontaneous without the intervention of the humans. The smart grid
network consists some sensors as a system part of the devices and this devices use this
sensors to detect the faults in the main power flow. In this article the authors proposed
smart monitoring and controls devices using the intelligent electronic devices [1]. Also, in
this article the authors has provided the insight of the network architecture of the smart
grid devices. Actually, this smart grid devices uses the sophisticated network architecture to
determine the flow of the power from the source point to the end point which is the
customers. This network architecture of the smart grid devices includes the demand supply
curve for mapping the power generation with the main supply. Form the network
architecture it is determined that when the demand of the electricity is higher than actual

amount of supply for a particular period of time then tariff becomes fixed and a warning is
thrown to the users regarding the payment rate which helps to meet higher level of tariff. In
the network architecture the trust based authenticity is used for security purposes.
In this article the author Shamshiri, Gan and Tan, has stated that implementation of
the smart grid in the electrical power systems has been increased. To justify the reason
behind this the authors has presented the usefulness of the smart grid networks which is
attractive for both the consumers and the energy consumers. As per the authors the main
challenges related with the successful realization of the smart grids are integration of the
renewable energy sources and for this the development of the smart grid networks should
be considered [2]. First of all, to develop the smart grid networks current drawbacks of the
smart grid networks must be solved which includes modelling, system performance and
monitoring and controlling of the micro grids. According to the authors, there was a recent
development in the smart grid networks which was achieved due to the advancement in the
information and communication technologies. Development is achieved due to the
advancement in the ICT systems because through the smart grid networks power network
and the information and the communication technology interconnected.
In this article “Cyber Security of Smart Grid Infrastructure” the authors Camachi,
Ichim and Popescu, has stated that security of the smart grid network is very much crucial
for maintaining reliable and a stable power. A stable and a reliable power is very much
important during the situations like contingency which occurs due to failure of critical
components of power system. According to the authors the security of the smart grid
devices is crucial because it ensures minor possibilities of power grid malfunction or collapse
[3]. The authors have observed that due to the lack of securities major blackout can occur
which is able to lead the situation to cascading failure. Thus from this the author has
determined that to protect this critical power systems infrastructure is needed which will
help in the uninterrupted power supply. As a solution to this the author visualise the cyber
security systems which will modernise the overall system of the smart grid network. With
the modernization the cyber security system will also make the utilization of the power
more efficient. The cyber system is mainly integrated with the physical power system. This
cyber security systems has resolved cyber-attack issues which are very much crucial for the
national infrastructure security and for the satisfaction of the customers. Due to the cyber-

attacks power grids may face operational failures and this can make the system unstable
which results in high penalty. Thus for this reasons cyber security in the smart grid is very
much important.
Security issues with the Smart Grid Network:
Considering the smart grid network one of the biggest problem which is faced by this
system is the cyber security related issues. The cyber security related issues is a big concern
for the smart grid networks because this system integrated with the information and
communication technology and it is vulnerable to various types of attacks [4]. This cyber-
attack over the smart grid network are generally of two types which are active attacks and
passive attacks. The active attacks are generally planned attacks which affects the smart grid
system by modifying data of the system. The passive attack is generally used for learning
and using the information of the system without modifying [10] the resources of the smart
grid system.
Another issue regarding the smart grid network is the Internet Protocol related
issues. The IP or the internet protocol is used in the smart grid network as big advantage as
this provides compatibility among various types of components. However, this internet
protocols becomes a problem for the smart grid networks [5]. The devices which uses the
internet protocols are generally vulnerable to the attacks which are based on IP. This type of
IP attacks includes tear drop attacks, IP spoofing attacks and the denial of service attack.
The strengths of the smart grid networks actually becomes the vulnerability point for
the system. Another reason for the security issues within the smart grid network is the
usage of vast number of intelligent devices. Generally, several types of intelligent devices is
used for managing both the network demand and the electricity supply. This intelligent
devices can serve as an entry point for the hackers to execute their attacks. Thus this
intelligent devices need to be managed properly by the system administrator.
Possible Solutions for the identified threats:
To solve the issue regarding the cyber security the technique of the information
sharing can be used. The information sharing is important in the process of the decision
making and again the process of the decision making is very much vital for the defence

against the threats [6]. Thus indirectly information sharing can provide solution to the
problem of the cyber security. This framework of the information sharing fill the gap
between collections of the information and disseminated of the information at the federal
level. Another solution for mitigating the cyber security issues is the protecting the soft
targets. In the smart grid networks the softest target for the hackers is the smart meters
which need to be protected first. To protect the smart meters, efficient security protocols
for the Advanced Meter Infrastructure can be implemented for the smart meters.
Recent attack on power systems:
In the recent cases, Ukraine faced an attack on the power systems. This attack was
carried by the hackers in December 2015 [8]. This attack was a supervisory control and data
acquisition cyber-attack. Due to this attack around 230,000 peoples in the western part of
the country left without power for several hours. This attack was initiated by the hackers by
using a spear phishing emails. After one year of the previous attack, another attack was hit
Ukraine [7]. This time the target was the Pivichna substation near Kiev, and this caused a
long hour blackout in the surrounding area. These two contagious attacks really questioned
the security of the smart grid networks.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the smart grid systems are very
much important for the power systems as it provides efficiency to the power systems.
Though this smart grid network is able to provide some good benefits to the power systems
it also the main reason behind the vulnerability of the power systems. In this paper a
literature review has been given which showed the main benefits of the smart grid systems
and this literature review also described why this smart grid networks brings vulnerability to
the power systems. As there was various types of problem in the system due to the smart
grid networks some of the issues regarding the smart grid networks has been discussed
thoroughly. Also, some possible solution regarding the identified threats is also evaluated in
this paper. Following that the case study of Ukraine has been discussed in this paper
regarding the recent power attack.

Reference:
[1] Radhika, Dr. N., Krishnamoorty Sivalingam and V. Anand, "Network architecture for
smart grids," International Conference on Computer, Communication and Electrical
Technology (ICCCET), Tamilnadu, 2011, pp. 24-26.
doi: 10.1109/ICCCET.2011.5762480
[2] Shamshiri, Meysam, Chin Kim Gan, and Chee Wei Tan. "A review of recent development
in smart grid and micro-grid laboratories." In Power Engineering and Optimization
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Computational Intelligence and Informatics (SACI), pp. 000303-000308. IEEE, 2018.
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[7] Case, Defense Use. "Analysis of the cyber attack on the Ukrainian power grid." Electricity
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[8] Liang, Gaoqi, Steven R. Weller, Junhua Zhao, Fengji Luo, and Zhao Yang Dong. "The 2015
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[9] Gungor, V. Cagri, Dilan Sahin, Taskin Kocak, Salih Ergut, Concettina Buccella, Carlo Cecati,
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[10] Ma, Ruofei, Hsiao-Hwa Chen, Yu-Ren Huang, and Weixiao Meng. "Smart grid
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