Analytical Risk Assessment of Communication Cyber Attacks on Automatic Generation Control

Abstract

Cybersecurity has become a crucial consideration in critical power system applications such as automatic gener-ation control (AGC) due to the increasing use of information and communication technology. The existing research literature includes several descriptions of threats from either physics-based or pure cybersecurity perspectives. A holistic cyber-physical security assessment method is necessary to guide future decisions regarding AGC organization. This paper develops an analytical risk assessment method for integrity attacks on AGC communication while considering the cyber-physical causal chain. Attack occurrences and detections are modeled as stochastic events, while considering their physical impact and modeling accuracy of mitigation measures. The results provide a holistic cyber-physical security assessment and recommendations for securing the AGC system against compromised communications.