Litcius/Paper detail

A threat modeling language for generating attack graphs of substation automation systems

Engla Rencelj Ling, Mathias Ekstedt

2023International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection11 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

The substation automation system consists of many different complex assets and data flows. The system is also often externally connected to allow for remote management. The complexity and remote access to the substation automation system makes it vulnerable to cyber attacks. It also makes it difficult to assess the overall security of the system. One method of assessing the potential threats against a system is threat modeling. In this paper we create a language for producing threat models specifically for the substation automation systems. We focus on the method used to create the language where we review industry designs, build the language based on existing languages and consider attack scenarios from a literature study. Finally we present the language, model two different attack scenarios and generate attack graphs from the threat models.

Topics & Concepts

AutomationComputer securityComputer scienceModeling languageFocus (optics)Cyber-physical systemAttack patternsEngineeringIntrusion detection systemProgramming languageOpticsOperating systemSoftwarePhysicsMechanical engineeringSmart Grid Security and ResilienceInformation and Cyber SecurityNetwork Security and Intrusion Detection