Cyber–Physical Security of a Smart Grid Infrastructure

TLDR

Existing solutions are often assumed to transfer to new engineering domains, yet investigation reveals domain‑specific idiosyncrasies that demand novel approaches, especially as information‑communication technologies tightly couple with physical systems, raising new security concerns. The paper defines cyber‑physical security as the new field required to tackle the smart grid’s unique security challenges and calls for coordinated effort among industry, academia, and policymakers to secure the infrastructure. Current security approaches are largely unsuitable for the smart grid, being inapplicable, unviable, or insufficiently scalable to meet its complex demands.

Abstract

It is often appealing to assume that existing solutions can be directly applied to emerging engineering domains. Unfortunately, careful investigation of the unique challenges presented by new domains exposes its idiosyncrasies, thus often requiring new approaches and solutions. In this paper, we argue that the "smart" grid, replacing its incredibly successful and reliable predecessor, poses a series of new security challenges, among others, that require novel approaches to the field of cyber security. We will call this new field cyber-physical security. The tight coupling between information and communication technologies and physical systems introduces new security concerns, requiring a rethinking of the commonly used objectives and methods. Existing security approaches are either inapplicable, not viable, insufficiently scalable, incompatible, or simply inadequate to address the challenges posed by highly complex environments such as the smart grid. A concerted effort by the entire industry, the research community, and the policy makers is required to achieve the vision of a secure smart grid infrastructure.