Cyber Physical Security of the Critical Infrastructure

Power Sector, a critical electrical infrastructure in India, is at risk due to increasing cyber incidences. The electrical infrastructure depends on electronic control systems for its operation which are Cyber physical IT systems. Cyber threats to system can take many forms e.g. failure of a system/element to act/react in designed way due to virus, software bugs, intrusion and congestion in the underlying/supervising system and it may lead the misguidance to the operating engineers and there by taking false decision in real time operation. Non availability of ICT systems is also a form of Cyber Security vulnerability. Cyber intrusions are costly to Power Sector and many are preventable following safe design and Cyber Security Standards. The effect of vulnerabilities in centralized systems e.g. SCADA/Automation etc. used in Transmission and Distribution sector is wider and has potential impact on the synchronous operation of entire Power System, leading to Grid collapse. As far as Distribution sector is concerned where bulk of Smart Grid activities are visible, the impact of compromise of a centralized SCADA/DMS can lead to disruption of services to critical customers like Hospitals, Metro Rail etc. which is critical for the units/Services involved but at the same time not global and widespread. The impact of cyber vulnerabilities is proportional to the criticality of the functions and systems being impacted. The paper details the Cyber threats and prevention techniques involving IoT sensors, communication protocols, cloud architecture and predictive data analytics.