Demonstration of Man in the Middle Attack on a Feeder Power Factor Correction Unit

Abstract

Cyber security of distribution power systems is of an increasing and pressing importance due to the fast modernisation of current systems. Cyber attacks on distribution power systems may aim to operate the system inefficiently, steal private smart meter data or cause intentional false tripping of few or all feeders. In this paper, a Man in The Middle (MiTM) attack on a power factor correction unit is implemented and demonstrated to overload a distribution feeder and cause an intentional false tripping of the entire feeder causing regional blackout. Experimental implementation of the attack is carried out in a laboratory-scale setup using commercial power equipment under different loading conditions to demonstrate the effectiveness of this attack.Index Terms-Cyber-physical attack, inverters, man in the middle attack, power factor correction, smart grid.

Enhancing Smart Grid Cybersecurity: A Comprehensive Analysis of Attacks, Defenses, and Innovative AI-Blockchain Solutions

“…Man-in-the-middle attacks are detectable by SCADA using ARP. poisoning [102]. Security issues may be found and looked into by conducting a man-in-the-middle attack on the RTU.…”

Demonstration of Man in the Middle Attack on a Commercial Photovoltaic Inverter Providing Ancillary Services

“…In [8], a cyber attack is demonstrated on a voltage control system aiming to cause voltage limit violation in the distribution system. In [9] a MiTM is demonstrated on a distribution reactive power compensation system by exploiting vulnerabilities in the Modbus protocol which is used to communicate measurement information to the compensation control system. Several attacks on measurement devices and solar PV inverters are demonstrated using a simulation platform in [10].…”