Hardware Assisted Security Architecture for Smart Grid

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are the backbone structures that monitor and actuate large-scale systems in infrastructures like power grids and remote industrial automation. The power distribution network integrates smart grids which actively interact with consumer devices and back end SCADA systems. The communication over the grid is insecure and is susceptible to data compromise, network level and physical device level attacks. The recent exploitations of the connected electronic devices' vulnerabilities in the power domain reinforce the importance of security implementation and integration at the system level and at all levels of integration. This paper proposes a hardware-assisted framework for secure intra smart grid communication. The framework protects the confidentiality and integrity of data between each node and additionally provides authentication for the communicating parties. Furthermore, the presented framework is resistant to software-based remote hijacking as well as secret key extraction.