IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i5p2730-d759179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

DDoS Cyber-Incident Detection in Smart Grids

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge C. Merlino

    (School of Computer Science & Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK)

  • Mohammed Asiri

    (School of Computer Science & Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK)

  • Neetesh Saxena

    (School of Computer Science & Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK)

Abstract

The smart grid (SG) offers potential benefits for utilities, electric generators, and customers alike. However, the prevalence of cyber-attacks targeting the SG emphasizes its dark side. In particular, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks can affect the communication of different devices, interrupting the SG’s operation. This could have profound implications for the power system, including area blackouts. The problem is that few operational technology tools provide reflective DDoS protection. Furthermore, such tools often fail to classify the types of attacks that have occurred. Defensive capabilities are necessary to identify the footprints of attacks in a timely manner, as they occur, and to make these systems sustainable for delivery of the services as expected. To meet this need for defensive capabilities, we developed a situational awareness tool to detect system compromise by monitoring the indicators of compromise (IOCs) of amplification DDoS attacks. We achieved this aim by finding IOCs and exploring attack footprints to understand the nature of such attacks and their cyber behavior. Finally, an evaluation of our approach against a real dataset of DDoS attack instances indicated that our tool can distinguish and detect different types of amplification DDoS attacks.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge C. Merlino & Mohammed Asiri & Neetesh Saxena, 2022. "DDoS Cyber-Incident Detection in Smart Grids," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2730-:d:759179
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2730/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2730/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fazel Mohammadi, 2021. "Emerging Challenges in Smart Grid Cybersecurity Enhancement: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-9, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ersen Akdeniz & Mustafa Bagriyanik, 2023. "A Preventive Control Approach for Power System Vulnerability Assessment and Predictive Stability Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.
    2. Wang, Wei & Cova, Gregorio & Zio, Enrico, 2022. "A clustering-based framework for searching vulnerabilities in the operation dynamics of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    3. Mitra, Somalee & Chakraborty, Basab & Mitra, Pabitra, 2024. "Smart meter data analytics applications for secure, reliable and robust grid system: Survey and future directions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    4. Omid Sadeghian & Behnam Mohammadi-Ivatloo & Fazel Mohammadi & Zulkurnain Abdul-Malek, 2022. "Protecting Power Transmission Systems against Intelligent Physical Attacks: A Critical Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-24, September.
    5. Rikin Tailor & Zsolt Čonka & Michal Kolcun & Ľubomír Beňa, 2021. "Electrical Energy Flow Algorithm for Household, Street and Battery Charging in Smart Street Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-34, June.
    6. Nazir, Lubna & Sharifi, Ayyoob, 2024. "An analysis of barriers to the implementation of smart grid technology in Pakistan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    7. e Sousa, Álan & Messai, Nadhir & Manamanni, Noureddine, 2022. "Load-altering attack detection on smart grid using functional observers," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    8. Wu, Ying & Wu, Yanpeng & Cimen, Halil & Vasquez, Juan C. & Guerrero, Josep M., 2022. "Towards collective energy Community: Potential roles of microgrid and blockchain to go beyond P2P energy trading," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    9. Vijayshankar, Sanjana & Chang, Chin-Yao & Utkarsh, Kumar & Wald, Dylan & Ding, Fei & Balamurugan, Sivasathya Pradha & King, Jennifer & Macwan, Richard, 2023. "Assessing the impact of cybersecurity attacks on energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    10. Smitha Joyce Pinto & Pierluigi Siano & Mimmo Parente, 2023. "Review of Cybersecurity Analysis in Smart Distribution Systems and Future Directions for Using Unsupervised Learning Methods for Cyber Detection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    11. Muhammad Fakhrul Safitra & Muharman Lubis & Hanif Fakhrurroja, 2023. "Counterattacking Cyber Threats: A Framework for the Future of Cybersecurity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-32, September.
    12. Muhammad Awais Shahid & Fiaz Ahmad & Fahad R. Albogamy & Ghulam Hafeez & Zahid Ullah, 2022. "Detection and Prevention of False Data Injection Attacks in the Measurement Infrastructure of Smart Grids," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-25, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2730-:d:759179. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.