Cyber security challenges for IoT-based smart grid networks

The energy needs of the 21st century are growing rapidly due to the population growth and considerable efforts are being made to make the electricity grid more intelligent in order to make it more responsive to the energy needs of the consumers and to provide improved efficiency and reliability of power systems. Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the enabling technologies for a smart grid network. As the IoT connected devices continue to grow at a rapid pace, one of the major challenges is security since the devices are online hence making the smart grid vulnerable to significant attacks. Since an IoT based smart grid would consist of potentially millions of nodes, it has the largest attack surface for an IoT focused cyber-attack. A cyber-attack on a smart grid would have devastating effects on reliability of widespread infrastructure given the potential cascade effects of shutting down the electricity grid since most of the devices in our homes, offices, hospitals and trains require electricity to run. Once a single device is compromised, then the whole grid becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks. Such attacks on electricity supply can grind entire cities to a halt thereby causing huge financial and economic losses. This makes security a critical factor to consider before large scale deployment of IoT based smart grid networks. In this paper we review and explore the major challenges and security issues stunting the growth of IoT-based smart grid networks.