Petri Net-Based (PN) Cyber Risk Assessment and Modeling for Zambian Smart Grid (SG) ICS and SCADA Systems

摘要

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks are used across the globe to manage commercial and industrial control systems connected to energy, water, and telecommunications infrastructures. The connectivity provides immense benefits such as reliability, scalability, and remote connectivity, but at the same time exposes an otherwise isolated and secure system, to global cybersecurity threats. This inevitable transformation to highly connected systems thus necessitates effective security safeguards to be in place as any compromise or downtime of SCADA systems can have severe economic, safety, and security ramifications. To enhance the reliability and resilience of power grid networks there is a paradigm shift from legacy networks to smart grid networks. The Zambian power grid operator and mining companies in tandem with global players are transitioning from legacy-based protocols to Internet Protocol-based (IP-based) communications. Therefore, estimating possible cyberattack impacts and identifying system vulnerabilities are a concern in SCADA management and operations. However, it is quite difficult to plan, execute and review vulnerability analysis in critical infrastructure systems as well as in industrial control systems (such as SCADA systems) due to the complexity, and heterogeneity of these systems. A consistent domain-specific conceptual model is required to consequently establish a generic framework for cybersecurity analysis to examine and investigate security threats on smart grid systems. This paper proposes the use of Petri nets to model a framework for cyberattack response for smart grid infrastructure.