Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Feasibility of Time Synchronization Attacks against PMU-based State-Estimation
 
research article

Feasibility of Time Synchronization Attacks against PMU-based State-Estimation

Shereen, Ezzeldin
•
Delcourt, Marguerite Marie Nathalie  
•
Barreto Andrade, Sergio  
Show more
September 9, 2019
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

The emerging measurement technology of phasor measurement units (PMUs) makes it possible to estimate the state of electrical grids in real-time, thus opening the way to new protection and control applications. PMUs rely on precise time synchronization, therefore they are vulnerable to timesynchronization attacks which alter the measured voltage and current phases. In particular, undetectable time synchronization attacks pose a significant threat as they lead to an incorrect but credible estimate of the system state. Prior work has shown that such attacks exist against pairs of PMUs, but they do not take into consideration the clock adjustment performed by the clockservo, which can modify the attack angles and make the attacks detectable. This cannot easily be addressed with the existing attacks, as the undetectable angle values form a discrete set and cannot be continuously adjusted as would be required to address the problems posed to the attacker by the clock servo. Going beyond prior work, this paper first shows how to perform undetectable attacks against more than two PMUs, so that the set of undetectable attacks forms a continuum and supports small adjustments. Second, it shows how an attacker can anticipate the operation of the clock servo while achieving her attack goal and remaining undetectable. Third, the paper shows how to identify vulnerable sets of PMUs. Numerical results on the 39-bus IEEE benchmark system illustrate the feasibility of the proposed attack strategies.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1109/TIM.2019.2939942
Author(s)
Shereen, Ezzeldin
Delcourt, Marguerite Marie Nathalie  
Barreto Andrade, Sergio  
Dàn, Gyorgy
Le Boudec, Jean-Yves  
Paolone, Mario  
Date Issued

2019-09-09

Published in
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
Volume

69

Issue

6

Start page

3412

End page

3427

Subjects

Phasor measurement units

•

Voltage measurement

•

Current measurement

•

Synchronization

•

Clocks

•

Servomotors

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
DESL  
LCA2  
FunderGrant Number

CTI/Innosuisse

SCCER-FURIES

Available on Infoscience
October 30, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/162457
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés