Analysis of Security Issues in Cloud based Smart Grid

Smart grid is maximum optimization of energy management achieved through transmission and distribution automation, efficient use of existing network and integration of smart devices. Due to electric power system’s own characteristics, it cannot store energy in a large scale therefore electric generation, transmission, distribution and usage operations must be completed simultaneously. Due to its unprecedented advantages like on demand self-service, ubiquitous computing, pay-per-use model and scalable resources, cloud computing has become a promising model that can be integrated with smart grid to resolve this issue. Though the advantages of cloud computing have revolutionized the IT industry but they have also brought inherent cloud-specific security issues. Outsourcing, multitenancy and massive data storage and intense computation abilities have posed challenges to network & web application, availability reliability, integrity, confidentiality, virtualization, privacy, authorization, authentication, accountability and legal & regulatory compliance. This article focuses on security issues and countermeasures in smart grid and smart grid cloud. KeywordsCloud computing, Smart grid, Availability, Integrity, Confidentiality, Privacy, Repudiation