Cyber-Physical Security of the Smart Grid

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The smart grid represents a marriage of information technology with the electricity network. While the increased reliance on cyber infrastructure enables greater reliability, efficiency and capacity of power delivery, this dependence also creates a host of insidious weaknesses. The scale and complexity of the smart grid, along with its increased connectivity and automation, make the task of cyber-physical protection particularly challenging. Smart grid security constitutes a daunting effort for asset owners because of resources limitations. Important questions arise when identifying priorities for design and protection: Which cyber components, if compromised, can lead to significant power delivery disruption? What kinds of grid topologies are inherently robust to classes of cyber attack? Is the additional information available through advanced cyber infrastructure worth the increased security risk? ** To address these challenges, this research program pioneers the development of a modeling and analysis methodology for cyber-physical smart grid systems by harnessing the power of dynamical systems frameworks. Through integration of mathematical tools from the fields of nonlinear dynamical systems, graph theory and game theory we aim to address timely and important cyber-physical security problems influenced by the needs of electric power utilities. ** The work will provide timely design insights and instruments essential for developing more reliable, secure and safe smart grids. Solutions for securing the smart grid are just emerging and the proposed research provides a necessary framework to better assess, re-develop and prioritize them. Moreover, this research helps to reinforce the synergy among communication, computation, economic and electricity networks fostering an important interdisciplinary view of the emerging smart grid. The ability to build secure and safe smart grid systems will provide commercial and environmental benefits by facilitating widespread adoption of smart grid infrastructure revolutionizing the electricity marketplace and reducing our society's ecological footprint. **************************************