Bio-Inspired Cyber Security for Smart Grid Deployments

Conference · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ISGT.2013.6497880· OSTI ID:1227074

McKinnon, Archibald D.; Thompson, Seth R.; Doroshchuk, Ruslan A.; Fink, Glenn A.; Fulp, Errin W.

mart grid technologies are transforming the electric power grid into a grid with bi-directional flows of both power and information. Operating millions of new smart meters and smart appliances will significantly impact electric distribution systems resulting in greater efficiency. However, the scale of the grid and the new types of information transmitted will potentially introduce several security risks that cannot be addressed by traditional, centralized security techniques. We propose a new bio-inspired cyber security approach. Social insects, such as ants and bees, have developed complex-adaptive systems that emerge from the collective application of simple, light-weight behaviors. The Digital Ants framework is a bio-inspired framework that uses mobile light-weight agents. Sensors within the framework use digital pheromones to communicate with each other and to alert each other of possible cyber security issues. All communication and coordination is both localized and decentralized thereby allowing the framework to scale across the large numbers of devices that will exist in the smart grid. Furthermore, the sensors are light-weight and therefore suitable for implementation on devices with limited computational resources. This paper will provide a brief overview of the Digital Ants framework and then present results from test bed-based demonstrations that show that Digital Ants can identify a cyber attack scenario against smart meter deployments.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1227074
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-91275; 830403000
• Resource Relation: Conference: IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT 2013), February 24-27, 2013, Washington DC, 1-6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English