Impact of Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack on Advanced Metering Infrastructure

The age of Internet of Things has brought in new challenges specifically in areas such as security. The evolution of classic power grids to smart grids is a prime example of how everything is now being connected to the Internet. With the power grid becoming smart, the information and communication systems supporting it is subject to both classical and emerging cyber-attacks. The article investigates the vulnerabilities caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the smart grid advanced metering infrastructure. Attack simulations have been conducted on a realistic electrical grid topology. The simulated network consisted of smart meters, power plant and utility server. Finally, the impact of large scale DDoS attacks on the distribution system’s reliability is discussed.