Secure Energy Systems (SES)

Research field: Information
Helmholtz Program (PoF IV): Engineering Digital Futures: Supercomputing, Data Management and Information Security for Knowledge and Action
Topic 3: Engineering Security for Energy Systems
Subtopic 2: Engineering Security for Energy Systems
KASTEL

The main focus of the working group “Secure Energy Systems (SES)” is the cyber-physical security of energy systems. Our topics of interest cover a large spectrum of security applications ranging from the hardware to the communication structure in smart grids.
Available forms of defense are mainly based on warning systems that generally suffer from a high number of false positives and are not always adapted to the specific protocols and communication structure used in energy systems. Thus, modern intrusion detection systems shall not miss any critical incidents.
 
To efficiently improve the cyber-physical security of the grid, detection methods need to be supported by other defense techniques. Topics including threat modeling, IDS and IRS system for alarm correlation are investigated in order to enhance the overall security and resiliency of future energy systems. We analyze different standards associated to the configuration as well as the security of energy systems such as IEC 61850 and IEC 62351.

The KASTEL Security Lab Energy is an infrastructure build up at the IAI in which attack scenarios and experiments associated to the developed defense mechanisms are being implemented.
We have several collaborations to industrial and academic partners and we work in close cooperation with the Energy Lab 2.0.

Current Projects/Topics