A Novel Distributed and Stealthy Attack on Active Distribution Networks and a Mitigation Strategy

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Authors

Srikantha, Pirathayini
J. Liu
J. Samarabandu

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics

Abstract

Rapid advances in smart devices tremendously facilitate our day-to-day lives. However, these can be exploited remotely via existing cyber vulnerabilities to cause disruption at the physical infrastructure level. In this paper, we discover a novel distributed and stealthy attack that uses malicious actuation of a large number of small-scale loads residing within a distribution network (DN). This attack is capable of cumulatively violating the underlying operational system limits, leading to widespread and prolonged disruptions. A key element of this attack is the efficient use of attack resources, planned via Stackelberg games. To mitigate this type of an attack, we propose a countermeasure strategy which adaptively suppresses adverse effects of the attack when detected in a timely manner. The effectiveness of the proposed mitigation strategy is demonstrated via theoretical convergence studies, practical evaluations, and comparisons with the state-of-the-art strategies using realistic load flow and DN infrastructure models.

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Keywords

cyber-physical security, internet of things (IoT), population games

Citation

P. Srikantha, J. Liu and J. Samarabandu, "A Novel Distributed and Stealthy Attack on Active Distribution Networks and a Mitigation Strategy," in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 823-831, Feb. 2020.