Improved protection scheme for data attack on strategic buses in the Smart Grid

Determining voltage phase angles of buses in a Smart Grid is a critical operation in the power system state estimation process. Invalid state estimate of strategic buses can cause a severe socioeconomic impact. In this paper, we present an optimal protection scheme to protect the voltage phase angle estimation of strategic buses in a Smart Grid against data spoofing attacks. We discuss the limitations of the protection scheme presented by Deka et al by identifying a class of attack vectors which cannot be defended against using their protection scheme. We then provide an improved protection scheme to find the minimal set of measurements to protect in order to secure the set of strategic buses against any data spoofing attack. Finally, we discuss tradeoffs and differences in our protection scheme compared with the protection scheme presented by Deka et al.