Smart Grid Security

Chapter 4

Resilience Against Physical Attacks

Martin Hutle^*

Markus Kammerstetter^†*    Fraunhofer AISEC, Germany^†    Automation Systems Group, Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Abstract

The types of physical attacks on smart grid devices range from simple approaches, such as exploiting open interfaces, over side-channel attacks, to sophisticated methods such as fault attacks or integrated circuit (IC) reverse engineering. The basic methods to counteract such attacks include a system design, where information is also protected inside a device, and where no unwanted interfaces are exposed. Hardware security modules can be used to store secret data, such as key material, in a way that is more difficult to access by an attacker. They can be ...