Cybersecurity Vulnerability Assessment of Smart Grids

Abstract:
The convergence of information and communication technologies and power system has enabled the development of new monitoring, control and operation strategies to enhance the performance of the system. However, from a security perspective, this convergence opens up the surface for possible cyber-attacks that could cause system failures and power outages. Therefore, power systems need to be better prepared to cope with, and recover from expected, as well as from unexpected perturbations. In other words, it is necessary to increase the resilience of the system. In order to define a resilience strategy, it is required first to identify and analyze the weak points that are critical for the system vulnerability. In this context, the present paper describes the vulnerability assessment methodology used to identify the critical conditions regarding cyber-security of smarts grids. The results have shown that conditions such as lack of effective response to security policies inside organizations, as well as the lack of security awareness from the customer side have increased the system vulnerability. In spite of the existence of adaptation mechanisms that could decrease the vulnerability, their implementation could be hindered by the lack of policy enforcement or the willingness of the involved actors to implement these measures.