Cyber Security measures in Protection and Control IEDs

Abstract

The electric power grids and power systems are critical infrastructure parts of our modern society and are ascertained by high demands on reliability and stability. These systems are following standards and trends, as of which one of them is in particular Ethernet and TCP/IP based communication protocols. Evolving technologies like Ethernet and industry-specific standards such as IEC 61850 are enablers for information exchange that support not only higher reliability, but also important ensures interoperability between systems from different vendors. Key features to safe guard our grids are to enable support for authentication and authorization, auditability and logging as well as product and system hardening. An easy solution to add and remove users that shall have or be revoked from having access is the implementation of a centralized account management in the substation automation system. This is a major benefit for the utilities that have to adhere to regulations. In the event of intrusion detection, finding unexpected usage patterns and for security forensics, the security logging mechanisms are a must. It has to be reliable, easily distributed and easily collected. By adding centralized account management to our systems we can easily enhance the security in the substation automation system. Role based account management is not only enabling us to have the proper access rights per user and per role but also helps us reduce the errors created by the human factor. The principle of least privilege ensure that system components as well as humans interacting with the system have access only to the information and resources that are necessary for their legitimate purpose. The paper describes the trends, security measures and provide recommendations in order to get cyber security measures in Protection and Control Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs).

A novel hybrid cybersecurity scheme against false data injection attacks in automated power systems

“…The ease of operation in cyber physical systems and standardized semantics invites attackers to enter from the doors of cyberspace and exploit various vulnerabilities present in the communication protocols and the standard to achieve their malicious objectives [3]. The most vulnerable devices for attack in the automated power systems are the P&C IEDs together with their associated communication [4]. The engineering workplace in control centers may have access to the internet, which opens an access for adversaries to infiltrate and gain a foothold in the power system communication network [5,6].…”