Citation: Shahid, M.A.; Ahmad, F.;
Albogamy, F.R.; Hafeez, G.; Ullah, Z.
Detection and Prevention of False
Data Injection Attacks in the
Measurement Infrastructure of Smart
Grids. Sustainability 2022, 14, 6407.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116407
Academic Editors: Luis
Hernández-Callejo, Sergio
Nesmachnow and Sara Gallardo
Saavedra
Received: 30 March 2022
Accepted: 20 May 2022
Published: 24 May 2022
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Article
Detection and Prevention of False Data Injection Attacks in the
Measurement Infrastructure of Smart Grids
Muhammad Awais Shahid
1,
* , Fiaz Ahmad
1,
* , Fahad R. Albogamy
2
, Ghulam Hafeez
3,
* and Zahid Ullah
4
1
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Air University, Islamabad 44230, Pakistan
2
Computer Sciences Program, Turabah University College, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099,
Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia; f.alhammdani@tu.edu.sa
3
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Mardan 23200, Pakistan
4
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Management and Technology Lahore, Sialkot Campus,
Sialkot 51310, Pakistan; zahid.ullah@skt.umt.edu.pk
* Correspondence: awaisshahid.au.2020@gmail.com (M.A.S.); fiaz.ahmad@mail.au.edu.pk (F.A.);
ghulamhafeez393@gmail.com (G.H.)
Abstract:
The smart grid has become a cyber-physical system and the more cyber it becomes, the
more prone it is to cyber-attacks. One of the most important cyber-attacks in smart grids is false
data injection (FDI) into its measurement infrastructure. This attack could manipulate the control
center in a way to execute wrong control actions on various generating units, causing system
instabilities that could ultimately lead to power system blackouts. In this study, a novel false data
detection and prevention paradigm was proposed for the measurement infrastructure in smart grids.
Two techniques
were devised to manage cyber-attacks, namely, the fixed dummy value model and
the variable dummy value model. Limitations of the fixed dummy value model were identified and
addressed in the variable dummy value model. Both methods were tested on an IEEE 14 bus system
and it was shown through the results that an FDI attack that easily bypassed the bad data filter of
the state estimator was successfully identified by the fixed dummy model. Second, attacks that were
overlooked by the fixed dummy model were identified by the variable dummy method. In this way,
the power system was protected from FDI attacks.
Keywords:
smart grid; cyber-physical system; false data injection attacks; false data detection;
cyber security
1. Introduction
“Smart grid” is taken as an umbrella term for different technologies. Those tech-
nologies are considered alternatives to the traditional methods used to operate the power
system. Some of these technologies are advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), demand
response, outage management, wide-area measurement system (WAMS), active fault level
monitoring, etc. In a smart grid, the power resources can be used efficiently [
1
,
2
]. A
smart grid has a high dependence on the advanced communication infrastructure, as
there is an exchange of a huge amount of data for the proper operation of such a complex
network [3–5]
. In fact, the smart grid is taken as a network consisting of computers, as
well as power infrastructure. All of these are used for monitoring and managing energy
usage [
6
,
7
]. An automated and distributed energy network is created by the smart grid [
8
].
Self-monitoring is carried out in the case of a smart grid, which makes the smart grid dis-
tinct from a traditional grid [
9
]. Distributed power resources (DPR) can be accommodated
in a smart grid [10,11].
In a power system, if there exists a mismatch between the generation and utilization
of power, there will be a deviation of electrical quantities from their actual values. The two-
way communication is carried out in a smart grid to have a safe and reliable power flow.
That communication should be secure. Sometimes attackers hack these communication
Sustainability 2022, 14, 6407. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116407 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
