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Distributed Intrusion Detection System using Semantic-based Rules for SCADA in Smart Grid

Conference · · 2020 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition (T&D)

Cyber-physical system (CPS) security for the smart grid enables secure communication for the SCADA and wide-area measurement system data. Power utilities world-wide use various SCADA protocols, namely DNP3, Modbus, and IEC 61850, for the data exchanges across substation field devices, remote terminal units (RTUs), and control center applications. Adversaries may exploit compromised SCADA protocols for the reconnaissance, data exfiltration, vulnerability assessment, and injection of stealthy cyberattacks to affect power system operation. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to generate robust rule sets. We integrate the rule sets into an intrusion detection system (IDS), which continuously monitors the DNP3 data traffic at a substation network and detects intrusions and anomalies in real-time. To enable CPS-aware wide-area situational awareness, we integrated the methodology into an open-source distributed-IDS (D-IDS) framework. The D-IDS facilitates central monitoring of the detected anomalies from the geographically distributed substations and to the control center. The proposed algorithm provides an optimal solution to detect network intrusions and abnormal behavior. Different types of IDS rules based on packet payload, packet flow, and time threshold are generated. Further, IDS testing and evaluation is performed with a set of rules in different sequences. The detection time is measured for different IDS rules, and the results are plotted. All the experiments are conducted at Power Cyber Lab, Iowa State University, for multiple power grid models. After successful testing and evaluation, knowledge and implementation are transferred to field deployment.

Research Organization:
Iowa State University
Sponsoring Organization:
U.S. Department of Energy
Contributing Organization:
Iowa State University
DOE Contract Number:
OE0000830
OSTI ID:
1985672
Report Number(s):
DOE-ISU-0000830-10
Journal Information:
2020 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition (T&D), Journal Name: 2020 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition (T&D)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (4)

Cyber-Physical Security Testbeds: Architecture, Application, and Evaluation for Smart Grid journal June 2013
High Availability for Network Management Applications conference January 2007
The real story of stuxnet journal March 2013
Taxonomy of attacks on industrial control protocols
  • Drias, Zakarya; Serhrouchni, Ahmed; Vogel, Olivier
  • 2015 International Conference on Protocol Engineering (ICPE) and International Conference on New Technologies of Distributed Systems (NTDS) https://doi.org/10.1109/NOTERE.2015.7293513
conference July 2015

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