A Multi-level Fidelity Microgrid Testbed Model for Cybersecurity Experimentation

Conference · Tue Aug 13 04:00:00 EDT 2019

OSTI ID:1606008

Ashok, Aditya ^[1]; Sridhar, Siddharth ^[1]; Becejac, Tamara ^[1]; Rice, Theora R. ^[1]; Engels, Matthias ^[1]; Harpool, Scott E. ^[1]; Rice, Mark J. ^[1]; Edgar, Thomas W. ^[1]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)

When experimenting with cybersecurity technologies for industrial control systems, it is often difficult to develop a realistic, self-contained model that provides an ability to easily measure the effects of cyber behavior on the associated physical system. To address this challenge, we have created and instantiated a microgrid cyber-physical model, where both the power distribution and the individual loads are under the control and authority of one entity. This enables cybersecurity experimentation where attacks against the physical system (grid and buildings) can be measured and defended from a single entities infrastructure. To achieve the appropriate levels of fidelity for cybersecurity effects, our microgrid model integrates multiple levels of simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and virtualization. In this paper, we present how we designed and instantiated this test case model in a testbed infrastructure, our efforts to validate its operation, and an exemplary multistage attack scenario to showcase the model's utility.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1606008
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-143817
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English