Enhancing the security of a cloud-based smart grid AMI network by leveraging on the features of quantum key distribution

In the last decade, there have been many research proposals on the potentials of incorporating cloud computing technology to the electrical power grid as it evolves rapidly to the smart grid. The advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is one domain of the smart grid that can be greatly impacted by cloud computing technology with regards to an improved capability for data storage and computations, which will be a serious burden to the AMI in an evolved smart grid environment. In our previous study, a cloud-based OpenFlow firewall for the mitigation of distributed denial-of-service attacks in a smart grid AMI (SG AMI) was proposed. In that study, it was clearly demonstrated that cloud computing technology, in addition to improving the storage and computation capability of the AMI, can also be leveraged on to enhance the security of the SG AMI in an attack scenario. In this study, we propose a cloud-based SG AMI system model utilizing quantum key distribution (QKD) cryptography for enhancing the security of a cloud-based SG AMI. The proposed model has been designed to complement the security features of the previously designed OpenFlow firewall to guarantee not only the availability but also the confidentiality and integrity of data traversing the AMI network and beyond. The analysis on computation and communication costs shows that the protocols utilized in the proposed system model are lightweight protocols. In addition, results from the simulation of the QKD (BB84) protocol show that QKD can be leveraged on to provide information theoretic security for the cloud-based SG AMI.