Network security monitoring in a small-scale smart-grid laboratory

Smart grids are the next generation of electrical grids, enabling the better management and leveling of power consumption by suppliers. Via the use of automatic meter reading, smart grid also provides better information to the end-users, making it possible to enhance their energy consumption and adapt it according to the current energy price, availability and other factors. As the grid becomes more and more reliant to ICT and communication networks, risks related to cybersecurity and privacy have to be taken into account. The link between automatic meters and the distribution operator has to be protected from security breaches that may lead to false billing and the transferred data has to be protected as it contains sensitive information about household and business behavior. In this article we present a limited state-of-the-art review as well as a network security monitoring setup for small-scale laboratory that is in essence a small scale smart grid environment. We discuss about the challenges and threats that are possible in the smart grid environment and the feasibility of using network security monitoring techniques that represent our work-in-progress research in this context.