Digital Security on Smart Grids: A Technical Review

The transition from a conventional grid to a smart grid is a significant advancement in the energy management field. Smart grids offer more reliable and cost-effective approaches to monitoring and meeting the energy demands of modern society, with a communication infrastructure for sustainable power usage monitoring using intelligent wired and wireless sensor networks. However, this exposes the smart grid to significant security threats, which are a major concern for researchers and developers today. This chapter explores the technological advancements of the smart grid, along with its risks and challenges in digital security. It provides industry practitioners and researchers with a technical understanding of the communication protocols and security assets on the smart grid, as well as potential solutions to prevent identified attacks. The STRIDE modeling framework tool is used to analytically examine the security assets and derive measures to prevent and counteract security attacks on the smart grid. It also provides insight into important research trends for further exploration.