Disrupting the power grid via EV charging: The impact of the SMS Phishing attacks

Abstract Electric vehicle (EV) is a paradigm shift for automotive, power industries, and people. EV penetration increases due to environmental concerns. Growing demand shows that reliable smart grid integration is essential to successful EV adoption. EV adds various stochastic processes to the smart grid management ranging from consumer behavior, the vehicle type to battery state of charge. As with every new technology, EVs introduce new security concerns both for the power grid and charging infrastructure. Having a holistic view and understanding consumer behavior is important to address security issues. Regulative bodies and researchers consider cyber-threats and provide security architecture for EV charging systems. However, phishing attacks and their impact on the system have been overlooked up to now. In this study, we investigate how people’s charging behavior can be guided to disturb EV connected grid with mobile phone SMSs, so-called SMiShing attacks. We demonstrated the attack on the IEEE European Low Voltage Feeder Test System. Simulation results show that SMiShing attacks targeting the EV system may result in disruptions on the power system and should not be overlooked for reliable EV transition.