A Key Distribution Scheme based on TLS 1.3 for IEC 61850-90-5 Synchrophasor Communication

With the amalgamation of information and communication technologies the legacy power system networks are evolving as smart grids. Through Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and Phasor Data Concentrators (PDCs), operators can monitor and control the smart grid network. Enhanced communication in smart grid results in increased vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Different security mechanisms based on symmetric cryptography are reported in the literature to secure synchrophasor communication against different attacks. These symmetric cryptographic algorithm-based security mechanisms require a mechanism to securely share the secret key. This paper proposes a Key Distribution Scheme (KDS) based on IEC 61850-90-5 standard which authenticates the end communicating entities and to share the secret key based on the latest Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 protocol. Furthermore, the communication is protected with a shared symmetric session key. This paper presents the details of the mechanism for key sharing using the proposed KDS scheme for IEC 61850-90-5 multicast synchrophasor communication. Finally, Analysis on security and performance of the proposed scheme is reported.