A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids
The growing adoption of smart grid systems presents significant advancements in the efficiency of energy distribution, along with enhanced monitoring and control capabilities. However, the interconnected and distributed nature of these systems also introduces critical security vulnerabilities that m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/5/2/11 |
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| author | Muhammad Asfand Hafeez Kazi Hassan Shakib Arslan Munir |
| author_facet | Muhammad Asfand Hafeez Kazi Hassan Shakib Arslan Munir |
| author_sort | Muhammad Asfand Hafeez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growing adoption of smart grid systems presents significant advancements in the efficiency of energy distribution, along with enhanced monitoring and control capabilities. However, the interconnected and distributed nature of these systems also introduces critical security vulnerabilities that must be addressed. This study proposes a secure communication protocol specifically designed for smart grid environments, focusing on authentication, secret key establishment, symmetric encryption, and hash-based message authentication to provide confidentiality and integrity for communication in smart grid environments. The proposed protocol employs the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for authentication, Elliptic Curve Diffie–Hellman (ECDH) for secure key exchange, and Advanced Encryption Standard 256 (AES-256) encryption to protect data transmissions. The protocol follows a structured sequence: (1) <i>authentication</i>—verifying smart grid devices using digital signatures; (2) <i>key establishment</i>—generating and securely exchanging cryptographic keys; and (3) <i>secure communication</i>—encrypting and transmitting/receiving data. An experimental framework has been established to evaluate the protocol’s performance under realistic operational conditions, assessing metrics such as time, throughput, power, and failure recovery. The experimental results show that the protocol completes one server–client request in 3.469 ms for a desktop client and 41.14 ms for a microcontroller client and achieves a throughput of 288.27 requests/s and 24.30 requests/s, respectively. Furthermore, the average power consumed by the protocol is 37.77 watts. The results also show that the proposed protocol is able to recover from transient network disruptions and sustain secure communication. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d50e470ef31a4c1e9186fc49fefb3656 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2624-800X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy |
| spelling | doaj-art-d50e470ef31a4c1e9186fc49fefb36562025-08-20T03:27:37ZengMDPI AGJournal of Cybersecurity and Privacy2624-800X2025-03-01521110.3390/jcp5020011A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart GridsMuhammad Asfand Hafeez0Kazi Hassan Shakib1Arslan Munir2Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USADepartment of Computer Science, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USAThe growing adoption of smart grid systems presents significant advancements in the efficiency of energy distribution, along with enhanced monitoring and control capabilities. However, the interconnected and distributed nature of these systems also introduces critical security vulnerabilities that must be addressed. This study proposes a secure communication protocol specifically designed for smart grid environments, focusing on authentication, secret key establishment, symmetric encryption, and hash-based message authentication to provide confidentiality and integrity for communication in smart grid environments. The proposed protocol employs the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for authentication, Elliptic Curve Diffie–Hellman (ECDH) for secure key exchange, and Advanced Encryption Standard 256 (AES-256) encryption to protect data transmissions. The protocol follows a structured sequence: (1) <i>authentication</i>—verifying smart grid devices using digital signatures; (2) <i>key establishment</i>—generating and securely exchanging cryptographic keys; and (3) <i>secure communication</i>—encrypting and transmitting/receiving data. An experimental framework has been established to evaluate the protocol’s performance under realistic operational conditions, assessing metrics such as time, throughput, power, and failure recovery. The experimental results show that the protocol completes one server–client request in 3.469 ms for a desktop client and 41.14 ms for a microcontroller client and achieves a throughput of 288.27 requests/s and 24.30 requests/s, respectively. Furthermore, the average power consumed by the protocol is 37.77 watts. The results also show that the proposed protocol is able to recover from transient network disruptions and sustain secure communication.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/5/2/11public key cryptographysmart gridcryptographic protocolkey establishmentauthentication |
| spellingShingle | Muhammad Asfand Hafeez Kazi Hassan Shakib Arslan Munir A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy public key cryptography smart grid cryptographic protocol key establishment authentication |
| title | A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids |
| title_full | A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids |
| title_fullStr | A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids |
| title_short | A Secure and Scalable Authentication and Communication Protocol for Smart Grids |
| title_sort | secure and scalable authentication and communication protocol for smart grids |
| topic | public key cryptography smart grid cryptographic protocol key establishment authentication |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/5/2/11 |
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