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Hijacking Internet-connected Devices to Provoke Harmful Oscillations in an Electrical Network: a Feasibility Assessment
Author(s)
Date Issued
2020-07-06
Date Available
2020-11-11T09:22:28Z
Abstract
Internet-connected devices will represent an increasing proportion of the load served by electric power systems. As these devices could conceivably be hijacked and controlled remotely by a malicious actor, they could represent a new threat vector against the dynamic security of a power system. Such attack strategies have not been considered in the existing literature on power system cybersecurity. As an initial scoping exercise, the present case study explores whether such devices could be remotely hijacked and then maliciously power-cycled at particular frequencies to deliberately provoke harmful oscillations in an electrical grid. To gauge the broad feasibility of this novel style of attack, dynamic simulations are performed on two representative test power systems, at differing levels of attacker and defender resources. These simulations show that power-cycling just 1% of consumer loads at a system's resonant frequency may sometimes provoke harmful electromechanical oscillations throughout a national grid. This novel simulation exercise therefore implies that cybersecurity vulnerabilities at the consumer side could jeopardise the physical integrity of a nation's entire electricity supply.
Sponsorship
Science Foundation Ireland
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Journal
IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory & Applications
Volume
5
Issue
2
Start Page
226
End Page
231
Copyright (Published Version)
2020 The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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After second revision Hijacking Internet connected Devices to Provoke Harmful Oscillations.pdf
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655.64 KB
Format
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Mar 28, 2024
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