Evaluating SPEAR in the Combined IAN/HAN pilot

10/31/2021

The third pilot of the SPEAR project was successfully carried out by the Innovation Hub of the Public Power Corporation S.A. (PPC), towards the final evaluation of the SPEAR solution during the user acceptance testing phase. The SPEAR demonstrations were implemented in two locations of PPC, the Innovation Hub in Athens, and the Unit no5 of the Combined-Cycle Thermal Power Plant in Lavrio, both in Greece. The main focus of this pilot was the multi-class classification problem of detecting and distinguish between a great variety of cyberattacks and reconnaissance attempts against Modbus TCP. The pilot considered a Home Area Network (HAN) and an Industrial Area Network (IAN) setup.

The involved infrastructure of the Innovation Hub includes smart meters, installed on an operational rooftop PV panel and the main laboratory switchboard (HAN part), as well as a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) controlling the short-circuit generator of the High-Power Laboratory (IAN part). The corresponding apparatus is depicted in figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1: The PV panel at the Innovation Hub.
Figure 1: The PV panel at the Innovation Hub.
Figure 2: The short-circuit generator of the Innovation Hub.
Figure 2: The short-circuit generator of the Innovation Hub.

The Lavrio power plant demonstration focused on a larger scale IAN validation, by employing three PLCs interfacing with the Distributed Control System (DCS) of the Unit no5 of the Lavrio power plant. The IAN was properly isolated from the operational network in order to avoid any security breaches. The involved apparatus is depicted in figures 3 and 4.

Figure 3: Part of the DCS in Lavrio.
Figure 1: Part of the DCS in Lavrio.
Figure 4: The Unit no5 power generator in Lavrio.
Figure 1: The Unit no5 power generator in Lavrio.

The performed scenarios are summarized as follows: