A behavioral Model to Detect Data Manipulation Attacks of Synchrophasor Measurements

Synchrophasor technology contributes significantly
to the power system transformation into smart grid since it
enables the wide area monitoring and control concept. At the
same time, its integration to the smart grid imposes new cyber
security challenges in these cyber-physical systems. The key
element of the synchrophasor technology is the Phasor Measurement
Unit (PMU) which provides synchronized measurements
to the control center with a fast reporting rate. The PMU
measurements are kept in a Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC)
which collects and time aligns measurements from different
PMUs. The communication between PMUs and PDC is defined
by the synchrophasor communication standard, C37.118.2-2011,
which lacks security mechanisms and hence it is vulnerable to
cyber-attacks. Consequently, an intrusion detection system (IDS)
that can detect PMU measurement manipulation is necessary to
maintain the integrity and reliability of the PMU measurements.
In this paper, a Synchrophasor Specific Intrusion Detection
System that utilizes a PMU’s behavioral model to detect data
manipulation attacks against PMU measurements is proposed.
The proposed IDS approach is tested and validated using a
hardware in the loop setup for power systems considering an
actual PMU.