Review of cyber attacks on power system operations

Abstract

In a Smart Grid environment measurements from remote sensors are telemetered to control centers and serve as input to many energy management applications. This, on one hand, has increased efficiency and reliability but at the same time has left the system exposed to cyber threats. This paper reviews the possibilities of such attacks and the impacts these might have on different power system operations. Various researchers working in this area have proposed multiple ways in which a cyber attack can impact the grid. The paper links these works to a common thread and reviews their impact on important power system operations like - state estimation, automatic generation control, voltage control and energy market. The paper presents a brief discussion on the mechanism and impact of cyber attack on each of these four power system applications and identifies the commonalities and differences in the principle of these attacks with respect to their objectives.