Evaluation of the Effects of Intentional Threats to Power Substation Control Systems

Power station control and management systems represent key elements for guaranteeing the security of the power grid infrastructure. Intrinsically conceived to support the continuous provision of power in secure conditions, those systems make today intensive use of network based information and communication systems and are therefore exposed to the related accidental and intentional cyber–threats. This paper describes a simulation of intentional cyber–attacks conducted in the CESI laboratory testbed on a prototypical substation control infrastructure with the purpose of testing their feasibility and illustrating their impact on the control system services. A set of attack scenarios has been experimented in the testbed, targeting different subsystems, with different simulated threat motivations and different degrees of impact on the global substation service. The paper reports some considerations about the consequences of the implemented attacks, focusing on different facets of the problem, in an effort to elucidate the full significance of the potential cyber–threats. The simulated attack scenarios include the following cases: phishing, denial of services, viral infections and intrusions.

NAI FOVINO Igor;  MASERA Marcelo;  DONDOSSOLA Giovanna;  SZANTO Judit; 

2008-01-15

ENEA

JRC32737

http://ciip.casaccia.enea.it/cnip06/index.jsp?sel=program,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC32737,