A Unified Approach for Blockchain-based Data Protection Framework for Electric Power Systems against Attacks
Abstract
Electric power systems around the globe are rapidly transforming. The conventional systems had to rely highly on centralized network for the distribution of electricity to the end users which has led to increased cyber-attacks against the power systems thus causing insecurity and serious issues like blackouts. In this paper, the outlined causes can be solved by providing high security to the modern power system using blockchain technology by which the important records are maintained through the decentralized ledger which magnifies the firmness of the electric power system. The main operational data are encapsulated in the form of blocks and hashed to create a unique value. The consecutive block also contains the hash value of the previous block thus forming a distributed network which is transparent and the attacks can be eradicated easily. The flow of the paper starts from data collection where the basic data are collected. Then, the encryption and decryption of the data are performed using SHA-256 algorithm. In addition, the data validation process takes place with the help of Byzantine Fault Tolerance algorithm which helps to get the consensus agreement upon all nodes. Further, the linking of blocks occurs upon successful validation of the blocks by the miners who validates it using mathematical problem to find the nonce which is nothing but the solution for adding up the consecutive blocks. Finally, the classification of attacks takes place where the dataset of daily electrical usage is pre-processed, trained and tested. Then, the outputs are executed in the form of graphs through which the attacks can be classified effortlessly.