Power systems resilience against cyber-attacks. A systematic analysis

Power outages can have serious consequences for national security and a country's economy. Today, electricity generation, transmission and distribution rely on digital systems such as computer systems and communication networks. This development introduces new vulnerabilities in the reliability of electricity supply due to cyber-attacks on information and communication systems. Cyber-attacks evolve from insignificant crime to state-sponsored cyber terrorism. This paper provides a systemic analysis of the most relevant cyber security studies that address the power systems resilience to cyber-attacks. Research that defines cyber security risks and studies that develop solutions to improve the security of power systems are reviewed. Publications between 2013 and 2023 have been reviewed and quantitatively evaluated, contributing to the identity and evaluation of studies developments over the past ten years. The paper additionally proposes an evaluation of a reference attack, the only one executed in 2015 in Ukraine, which caused energy outages for nearly 225,000 clients in western Ukraine. Data about the target of the attack, the method of attack, the purpose, the result obtained by the attackers, the consequences of the attack are documented. After the analysis of this security incident on the power system in Ukraine, a series of measures meant to prevent this type of attacks are going to be proposed.