The need for an energy transition in Europe, and worldwide, is becoming major, and is faced by significant and far-reaching challenges. More than ever, transportation, communications, resource management (water and air), and even agriculture are enabled by modern electrical power and energy systems (EPESs) promoting automation. It is clear that energy is going more to be electrical and this is a great chance to integrate a higher share of renewables, promoting a more efficient and decentralized energy system, by involving advanced digital technologies and systems such as smart devices, faster and more flexible gateways, smart meters, and Internet of things (IoT). However, this transition comes with a significant cost: The need for cyber-defense measures, strategies, algorithms, schemes, tools, and frameworks to maintain or improve the infrastructure’s security posture.
The electric smart grid (ESG) is a modern EPES. This endeavor constitutes the evolution of the traditional electric grid, focusing on generating and conditioning electricity, while efficiently distributing, controlling, and monitoring it in real-time. Being beneficial not only for power industries, but also for consumers, ESGs also aim to preserve information privacy and offer protection against intrusions. However, due to their critical nature, vast scale and their expanded attack surface, ESGs are bound to face existing and evolving cyberthreats targeting vulnerable deployments. Recently ESG infrastructures have faced several cyberattacks that have raised questions regarding security inefficiencies and their large impact on system robustness, productiveness, and integrity.
This Special Issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220) seeks to make an in-depth, critical contribution to this evolving field of cybersecurity in EPES. In the context of this Special Issue, we intend to bring together state-of-the-art research contributions providing new insights in securing the EPES from data breaches, managing threats, preventing and detecting cyber intrusions, and preserving sensitive and private information. The topics that can be addressed include (but are not limited to) the following:
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2021.
Source: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Cybersecurity_Smart_Grid