Economic Impact Assessment of Topology Data Attacks With Virtual Bids

This paper presents a new mathematical framework for the economic impact analysis of topology data attacks in electricity markets with virtual bidding activities. The network topology information is very important for system operators to manage the grid in a secure manner. However, this network topology can be manipulated by an adversary through the change of the circuit breaker's on/off status. This, combined with virtual bids submitted by the attackers, could lead to financial misconduct and potential profit for the attacker in the power market. This paper aims at developing an analytical framework to evaluate the economic profit of an attacker who conducts topology data attack and submits virtual bids accordingly. This framework can be used for system operators as a cybersecurity tool to quickly find the most profitable pair of virtual bidding buses and the most influential transmission line on the change in profit once topology data attack is initiated. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the adversary's profit with respect to the change in generator's marginal cost and susceptance for any targeted line is assessed in the proposed framework. IEEE 14-bus system is used to validate and test the proposed framework in various system operation conditions and attack scenarios.