Blockchain-Enabled Security Module for Transforming Conventional Inverters toward Firmware Security-Enhanced Smart Inverters

TLDR

Traditional inverters are evolving into intelligent smart inverters, expanding their cyber‑attack surface and making firmware security essential. This study expands the firmware attack surface analysis and proposes a security module that transforms conventional inverters into firmware‑secure smart inverters, preventing malware, unauthorized firmware updates, and enabling rapid recovery from zero‑day attacks. The module operates as a blockchain client, using membership services, ledgers, and smart contracts to detect and mitigate firmware attacks, and is implemented on an IoT device. Experimental validation confirms the effectiveness of the security module framework on an IoT device.

Abstract

As the traditional inverters are transforming toward more intelligent inverters with advanced information and communication technologies, the cyber-attack surface has been remarkably expanded. Specifically, securing firmware of smart inverters from cyber-attacks is crucial. This paper provides expanded firmware attack surface targeting smart inverters. Moreover, this paper proposes a security module for transforming a conventional inverter to a firmware security built-in smart inverter by preventing potential malware and unauthorized firmware update attacks as well as fast automated inverter recovery from zero-day attacks. Furthermore, the proposed security module as a client of blockchain is connected to blockchain severs to fully utilize blockchain technologies such as membership service, ledgers, and smart contracts to detect and mitigate the firmware attacks. The proposed security module framework is implemented in an Internet-of-Thing (IoT) device and validated by experiments.