Project Title: Smart Grid cybersecurity enhancement using smart authentication and intelligent threat detection.

Funding Agency: Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research (NCESR), in partnership with Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD)

Start date: January 2023

End date: December 2023; Provisional: December 2024

NCESR 2023: Security Measures For Smart Grid is a joint-venture between NetGroup (under Dr. Byrav Ramamurthy) and SWAN lab (under Dr. Nirnimesh Ghose). The aims of the project are to investigate, propose, design, and deploy security measures for smart grid security systems, particularly the NPPD (Nebraska Public Power District.) The main objectives of the project are below.

Abstract

This project proposes to address Smart Grid cybersecurity by developing innovative Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) based solutions for (a) smart authentication of customer
premises equipment such as smart meters and (b) real-time traffic analysis to detect anomalous
behavior leveraging network- and application-layer collaboration as well as distributed threat
intelligence frameworks. The goals of this project are to explore, evaluate and implement smart
authentication and traffic analysis techniques to strengthen the security of the Smart Grid
cyberinfrastructures. The project’s claim is that smart authentication of customer equipment by the
Smart Grid network and continuous traffic analysis for anomalous behavior detection will ensure
secure network operation and reduced threat landscape. The project team will develop smart device
fingerprinting solutions that can ensure that unauthorized devices cannot become part of the Smart
Grid cyberinfrastructure. Their approach will further demonstrate how application- and network-layer
collaboration can be exploited to utilize application metadata for influencing secure control and
management of the network. They will explore and integrate predictive analytics to provide
intelligence for network resource management, improving network visibility for the operators, and
securing the Smart Grid cyberinfrastructure. Apart from their research contributions in this project,
the team will incorporate innovative modules on Smart Grid security in their undergraduate and
graduate cybersecurity courses. During this project, they will partner with colleagues at Nebraska
Public Power District (NPPD) and other public energy utilities in Nebraska to facilitate two-way
sharing of data and findings to make a significant real-world impact. They will pursue external
funding from federal agencies such as NSF, DHS and DOE to sustain and strengthen their research
well into the future.

Outputs

“Hardware Isolated Smart Grid Security” at Spring Research Days 2023 Poster Session.