With cyber attacks on the rise, this project aims to develop a tool that scans the cyber-physical energy system and creates a detailed report of threats and impacts to physical system resilience.
Titled Cyber RIAST, its purpose is to intercept cyber-attacks early and avoid the impact of a threat cascading.
The key outcomes are:
• Develop a risk impact awareness tool through the holistic approach
• Develop a cyber intelligent system using modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence
• The determination of risk impact assessment criteria, under risk impact scenarios through both offline and hardware in testing.
The development of Cyber RIAST and its application will enhance network security for future smart, flexible and decarbonised energy systems.
The Challenge
Cyber-attacks are a great threat to the energy system, with the UK one of the most attacked countries in Europe (recent IBM security report).
Attacks on network infrastructure can result in complete shutdowns, leading to economic, financial and environmental damage, as well as potential fatalities.
Cyber security for energy systems must be treated with high importance. Since attacks are unpredictable and unforeseen, intrusions can occur regularly; current reactive risk assessment methods are no longer effective and need updating.
Networks
The networks funding this project are National Grid and SP Energy Networks.
The Innovator
The University of Manchester (UoM) is one of the top global universities, renowned for its successful projects and research in digital substations, telecoms and cyber security, interoperability, IEC 61850 standards and substation automation systems.
Key research and practical experience on national flagship projects make the UoM an excellent partner to deliver the project. They will bring key skills to it through their expertise on modelling the electricity network, telecoms and cyber security, plus as applications of data analytics and machine learning.
What’s Next?
A future smart energy system needs to be able to quickly and consistently assess risks for systems that combine both digital and physical parts. This way, investments in security can be more effectively focused where they are needed most.
The goal is to build a comprehensive tool that can regularly check and provide updates on the security risks of these combined digital-physical energy systems.
Cyber RIAST will predict and dynamically identify the severity of cyber incidents, then assess their impact on the resilience of the cyber-physical energy system.
By identifying the weakest areas of cyber security vulnerability and physical energy systems, network operators can effectively address high-impact issues quickly and cost-effectively.
Furthermore, the tool will support network security teams to identify optimal investments and implement early interventions to prevent incidents from escalating.