The future smart grid represents a significant evolution in the way electric grids function. At the core of this change is an increased use of ICT to implement enhanced monitoring and control in the distribution network at medium and low-voltage levels. Ensuring the cybersecurity and resilience of smart grids is of paramount importance. This is the target of the EU-funded SPARKS – Smart Grid Protection Against Cyber Attacks – project.
The project aims to provide innovative solutions in a number of ways, including approaches to risk assessment and reference architectures for secure smart grids. The project will make recommendations regarding the future direction of smart grid security standards. Furthermore, key smart grid technologies will be investigated, such as the use of big data for security analytics in smart grids, and novel hardware-supported approaches for smart meter (gateway) authentication. All of these contributions and technologies will be assessed from a societal and economic impact perspective, and evaluated in real-world demonstrators.