Cyber security challenges for IoT-based smart grid networks

Abstract

The energy needs of the 21st century are growing rapidly due to the population growth and considerable efforts are being made to make the electricity grid more intelligent in order to make it more responsive to the energy needs of the consumers and to provide improved efficiency and reliability of power systems. Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the enabling technologies for a smart grid network. As the IoT connected devices continue to grow at a rapid pace, one of the major challenges is security since the devices are online hence making the smart grid vulnerable to significant attacks. Since an IoT based smart grid would consist of potentially millions of nodes, it has the largest attack surface for an IoT focused cyber-attack. A cyber-attack on a smart grid would have devastating effects on reliability of widespread infrastructure given the potential cascade effects of shutting down the electricity grid since most of the devices in our homes, offices, hospitals and trains require electricity to run. Once a single device is compromised, then the whole grid becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks. Such attacks on electricity supply can grind entire cities to a halt thereby causing huge financial and economic losses. This makes security a critical factor to consider before large scale deployment of IoT based smart grid networks.

In this paper we review and explore the major challenges and security issues stunting the growth of IoT-based smart grid networks.

Introduction

Over the last couple of years, the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible to connect anything and everything to the internet. It has led to a digital disruption in the physical world as we know it by changing the way we use technology. Using IoT it is now possible to connect light bulbs, refrigerators, drones, pet feeders, sensors, smart TVs and digital set-top boxes, security cameras, wearables, automotive systems and medical devices to the internet. Numerous industries, from healthcare to manufacturing to utilities, transport, and homes have been transformed and are now smarter than ever.

The growth of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications over the last decade has provided communication paradigm that has enabled ubiquitous connectivity between devices along with the ability to communicate autonomously without human intervention. With time M2M communications has evolved and is now recognized as the enabling technology for the practical implementation of IoT [1], [2].

The IoT is an interconnection of uniquely identifiable, embedded, computing devices that have the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. The seamless interlinkage of these embedded devices is expected to usher in an era of automation in nearly all fields. Some of the fields in which the IoT has emerged as an enabling technology include the smart grid, smart health, smart homes, intelligent transportation, smart environment as well as for smart cities. Through IoT technology, smart devices like internet-connected televisions, cars, refrigerators, routers, cameras, rice makers and thermostats can now be easily sensed and controlled over the internet [3].

As the smart grid evolved, IoT has emerged as an enabling technology to the grid. Each device in the grid is considered as an object and has a unique IP address that can be used to control it through the Internet thus connecting numerous devices to create an intelligent, self-sustaining ecosystem [4]. It is estimated that the current number of IoT devices in use worldwide is about 8.4 billion - outnumbering human population - and according to a report by Cisco [5] IoT devices are predicted to rise to over 50 billion by the year 2020. This is despite the fact that IoT is still in its nascent stage of development and teething challenges still persist. IoT is growing by leaps and bounds and is on the verge of exploding and we must therefore address these challenges in order to achieve largescale adoption, deployment, and maturity of IoT networks.

According to the projection by Cisco [5] the over 50 billion devices will only account for about 3% penetration of all objects that could potentially be connected to the IoT as is shown in Fig. 1. This shows that there is huge potential for growth of IoT into a multi trillion industry spanning across all aspects of life. However, as an IoT based smart grid is a complex architecture involving millions of IoT nodes and devices throughout critical power facilities and systems in one network, it represents the single biggest attack surface and if any one node in the network is compromised then the whole network is at risk.

Increasing mobile and web usage and social media are among the key factors contributing to the explosive rise in adoption of IoT [3]. However, as the IoT connected devices continue to grow at a rapid pace, numerous challenges abound. Amongst them is the potential vulnerability of these internet-facing systems to hackers. Contrary to traditional power grids where most of the attacks and points of failures came from physical access to critical infrastructure facilities, the ubiquity of IoT based smart-grid devices means that these risks are now on pervasive cyber-space based infrastructures that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time [3], [6] As the ubiquity of IoT technology infiltrates further into a smart grid's infrastructure it becomes more and more at risk of cyberattacks. First and foremost, the number of potential attack points across the network is enormously huge, and once a single device is compromised, then the whole grid becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks. Even in instances, where the infrastructure is considered relatively secure but the communications network is not then the whole system is still at risk. The potential cascade effect of shutting down the electricity grid, make it a key point of cyberattack hence the dire need to protect it at all costs [3].

This paper is organized as follows. In section II we briefly describe IoT, SG and the link between them. In section III we look at the benefits accrued from using an IoT based smart grid. In section IV we investigate security issues and challenges in the IoT based SG. In section V we explore other challenges of the smart grid within the IoT context. In section VI we look at what the future holds for IoT based SG, and we conclude our work in section VII.