Cyber Grid Guard: A Distributed Ledger Technology Framework

With cyberattacks on the rise, electrical grids are increasingly vulnerable to outages, service disruptions, and damage. Unfortunately, most rely on traditional defenses, like firewalls and intrusion-detection systems. These technologies, while useful at smaller scales, are incapable of managing the unique demands of complex electrical grid networks, and a higher level of trustworthiness and reliability is required to truly secure these networks. The Cyber Grid Guard Framework harnesses the power of distributed ledger technology (DLT), specifically blockchain, to leverage a variety of core cryptographic capabilities to distribute and secure electrical grids. The result is a decentralized, transparent, verified grid of secured, tamper-resistant devices. 

Description

Stability and security are critical to our vital electrical grids, but despite the thousands of homes, businesses and industries that rely on them daily, many grids still run on outdated security systems that are widely outpaced by cyber criminals and other bad actors who seek to damage and disrupt these networks. Now more than ever, verifying identity, detecting anomalies, and attesting to the legitimacy of devices on a networked grid is essential to maintaining its security. This is where DLT comes in, offering a decentralized, transparent, cryptographically enhanced method of verification, one that’s more reliable, robust, and tamper-resistant than those currently in use. The result is a safer, more secure grid, where data and devices are contributing to overall, ongoing stability, rather than creating vulnerabilities across the network. 

Core cryptographic DLT methods deployed by Grid Guard to increase data and device trustworthiness by confirming identities and integrity while detecting anomalies in real time include baselining configuration data, the Hyperledger Fabric framework, the secure hash algorithm, the consensus algorithm Raft, asymmetric cryptography and private permissioned blockchain. Grid Guard helps verify device integrity and identity, resulting in a more secure, more private, verifiable way to both monitor and secure complex power grid infrastructures. 

Applications and Industries

• Multiple commercial applications in the electric power industry 
• Designed to address data and device integrity for substations and distributed energy resources devices 
• Applicable to environments with distributed processing and limited central management 

Benefits

• Leverages DLT to provide secure, cross-network, tamper-resistant integrity confirmation 
• Decentralized, transparent device records storage and verification 
• Increased reliability due to superior tampering/manipulation resistance