Analyzing Cyber-Physical Attacks on Smart Grid Systems

We present a roadmap to evaluate the resilience of Smart Grid systems in the presence of cyber-physical attacks on its various functions and components such as Distributed Energy Resources, demand response, and gas distribution pipeline for peaker plants. We discuss attack scenarios corresponding to each functionality and the effect on the resilience of the given smart grid system. Through contingency simulations in the PowerWorld simulator, we analyze cyber attacks that propagate from cyber to power system and discuss how such attacks destabilize the underlying power grid. The analysis of such simulations helps system engineers to develop a robust and more resilient system and improves the response of the system to ongoing attacks.