Data Mining-Based Cyber-Physical Attack Detection Tool for Attack-Resilient Adaptive Protective Relays

Maintaining proper operation of adaptive protection schemes is one of the main challenges that must be considered for smart grid deployment. The use of reliable cyber detection and protection systems boosts the preparedness potential of the network as required by National Infrastructure Protection Plans (NIPPS). In an effort to enhance grid cyber-physical resilience, this paper proposes a tool to enable attack detection in protective relays to tackle the problem of compromising their online settings by cyber attackers. Implementing the tool first involves an offline phase in which Monte Carlo simulation is used to generate a training dataset. Using rough set classification, a set of If-Then rules is obtained for each relay and loaded to the relays at the initialization stage. The second phase occurs during online operation, with each updated setting checked by the corresponding relay’s built-in tool to determine whether the settings received are genuine or compromised. A test dataset was generated to assess tool performance using the modified IEEE 34-bus test feeder. Several assessment measures have been used for performance evaluation and their results demonstrate the tool’s superior ability to classify settings efficiently using physical properties only.