A Comprehensive Review on Cyber-Attacks in Power Systems: Impact Analysis, Detection, and Cyber Security

Continuous communication and information technology advancements facilitate the modernization of the conventional energy grid into an integrated platform. Internet-of-Things (IoT) incorporates power systems, particularly smart grid features and the delivery of new services from the utility side to the end user over a two-way communication channel. However, severe security vulnerabilities have been created due to over-dependency on IoT based communication systems. In addition, critical information exchange between any two entities or devices is always an appealing target for cyber-attackers, especially with financial interest motive by damaging integrity, confidentiality and authenticity in a communication channel. Maintaining data security and preserving privacy in between two entities during the transmission or any data distribution are essential. The potential attacks and impacts of those attacks need to be investigated to develop an effective cyber security infrastructure. Thus, considerable researchers focused on detection and mitigation of these vulnerable cyber-attacks using advanced computation tools. This review article thoroughly investigated possible ways to address cyber security challenges such as smart meter security, end-users privacy, electricity theft cyber-attacks using blockchain and cryptography against communication attacks in smart grid. The operational impacts of cyber-attacks on power system security, as well as the economic impact on deregulated energy markets, have been extensively explored. In addition, the robustness of security features and cryptographic methods against various cyber-attacks is investigated to suggest unexplored cyber-attacks for future scope. Specially, the study of real-world cyber security events, case studies, new findings and new scopes in diverse power industries are carried out. More than 135 research articles has been examined for this review article. This paper mainly concentrates on distribution-side cyber-attacks with impact analysis, detection and protection techniques.