A conceptual framework for securing industrial control systems: smart grid environment

Abstract

Cyber physical systems (CPSs) utilised in many of the critical infrastructures including the smart grid. The operational activities of smart grid's CPS use different industrial solution such as industrial control systems (ICS) for monitoring and controlling the physical architecture of smart grid. Therefore, it is quite essential to keep these industrial control systems secure and safe from potential hazards and cyber world as it may be harmful for human safety, strategic infrastructure of a country and also for the economy. The study gathered the scattered guidelines, best practices and policies available from various organisations such as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ISO, and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) for the purpose of developing safe and secure ICS security systems and also the knowledge about the issues involved in ICS security and protection. A conceptual framework is proposed and developed to address the shortcomings in-order to protect the ICS systems in a smart grid environment. The proposed framework was developed by reviewing related studies, standards and utilising IT security working experience. This framework will not only expand the horizon of knowledge but also provides pathway for the development of existing activities of CPS applications such as smart grid.