Consequence Verification During Risk Assessments of Smart Grids

The transformation of conventional power grids to smart grids over the past decade has led to increased exposure to cyber attacks. Understanding the impacts of cyber attacks is essential to selecting appropriate mitigation strategies. This research examines the evolution in the understanding of the consequences of cyber attacks on smart grids. It has explored the literature on consequence verification during risk assessments of smart grids from 2009 to 2023. A total of 839 articles were collected. After filtering duplicate and irrelevant articles, deep content analysis yielded 125 articles that assessed cyber risks to smart grids, with 67 of them also focusing on real consequence verification. Further study identified 23 smart-grid-enabled business areas impacted by cyber risks and six methods for verifying the real consequences of cyber attacks on smart grids. Real consequence verification is important because it helps identify the most critical smart grid vulnerabilities and prioritizes efforts for mitigating cyber attacks and their negative impacts.