ERI: Multi-Layer Dynamic Strategic Decision-Making for Integrated Cyber-Physical Energy Systems Security and Resilience

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。先进的信息和通信技术(ICT)在电力系统中的广泛应用使电网成为一个复杂的网络物理能源系统(CPES)。在信息通信技术中，物联网(IoT)在填补电力服务控制和监测与物理电网动态过程之间的空白方面发挥着至关重要的作用。物联网设备的广泛实施显著提高了CPES的运营性能，但也使电网面临巨大的网络威胁。据透露，攻击者可以通过物联网僵尸网络攻击破坏配电系统中大量物联网操作的能源设备，并将其作为发动协同网络-物理攻击的手段，从而扰乱CPES的运营。可信CPES的经典方法侧重于改善网络安全以防止攻击，或增强物理弹性以在攻击后恢复系统运行。然而，仅仅依靠任何一种方法都不是一个可行的解决方案，因为实现完美的安全性或弹性即使不是不可能，也是极其昂贵的。为此，该项目旨在设计具有成本效益的整体机制，以增强CPES在大规模物联网僵尸网络攻击下的安全性和弹性。该设计范式将共同降低网络组件的风险，并为物理电网配备敏捷恢复能力。该项目将开发一个统一的理论框架，以促进电网运营商在CPES中就安全和弹性战略进行分散、战略和综合决策。具体地说，该项目将首先建立一个量化框架，用于分析微电网中大规模物联网控制的能源设备带来的系统性网络物理风险。然后，这个系统风险模型将与微电网的运营框架相结合，以研究攻击者在破坏电网稳定方面的战略行为。对抗性分析有助于发现微电网中最脆弱的位置，这被用来指导战略防御。第二个研究重点将建立一个动态博弈，以实现对联网微电网的主动网络防御和物理弹性规划策略的集成设计。多层多阶段博弈论设计提供了预防性安全机制，以加强CPES的网络组件，并提供了纠正性弹性措施，以提高物理网格对攻击的准备。该项目将进一步开发基于分布式学习的机制，使微网运营商能够自适应地对抗战略对手。本项目中开发的技术和结果将使用公共电力系统仿真工具进行演示。PI将把研究成果整合到工程、数据科学和网络安全课程中，为学生提供网络物理智能电网、安全和弹性以及人工智能方面的跨学科培训。PI还致力于通过外展活动进行公共教育，以进一步扩大妇女和少数族裔作为本科生和研究生参与该项目的范围。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The pervasive adoption of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) in electric power systems has made the grid a complex cyber-physical energy system (CPES). Among the ICTs, the Internet of Things (IoT) plays a crucial role in filling the gap between the control and monitoring of electricity services and physical grid dynamic processes. The widespread implementation of IoT devices significantly improves the CPES's operational performance, but it also exposes the grid to vast cyber threats. It has been revealed that the adversary can disrupt the CPES operations through IoT botnet attacks by compromising a large number of IoT-operated energy devices in the power distribution system and using them as a means to launch a coordinated cyber-physical attack. Classical approaches to trustworthy CPES focus on improving cybersecurity to prevent attacks or enhancing physical resiliency to restore the system operation after attacks. However, solely relying on either approach is not a viable solution as achieving perfect security or resiliency is extremely cost-prohibitive, if not impossible. To this end, this project aims to devise cost-effective and holistic mechanisms for enhancing both the security and resiliency of CPES under large-scale IoT botnet attacks. The design paradigm will jointly mitigate the risks of the cyber components and equip the physical grid with agile recovery capability.The project will develop a unified theoretical framework to facilitate grid operators' decentralized, strategic, and integrative decision-making on security and resiliency strategies in CPES. Specifically, the project will first establish a quantitative framework for analyzing the systemic cyber-physical risks imposed by the massive IoT-controlled energy devices in the microgrid. This systemic risk model will then be integrated with the microgrid's operation framework to study the attacker's strategic behavior in destabilizing the grid. The adversarial analysis facilitates uncovering the most vulnerable locations in the microgrids, which is leveraged to guide the strategic defense. The second research thrust will establish a dynamic game to enable the integrated design of proactive cyber defense and physical resiliency planning strategies for networked microgrids. The multi-layer multi-stage game-theoretic design provides preventive security mechanisms to harden the cyber components of CPES and corrective resiliency measures to improve the preparedness of the physical grid for attacks. The project will further develop distributed learning-based mechanism for the microgrid operators to counteract the strategic adversaries adaptively. The developed techniques and results in this project will be demonstrated using public power system simulation tools. The PI will integrate the research outcomes into the engineering, data science, and cybersecurity curriculum, providing students cross-disciplinary training in cyber-physical smart grids, security and resilience, and artificial intelligence. The PI is also committed to public education through outreach activities to further broadening the participation of women and minorities as undergraduate and graduate students in the project.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.