DarkNet Cyber Resilience

Abstract

Accurate and synchronized timing signals is critical to safe, reliable, resilient, and secure operation of the Nation’s energy infrastructure. Therefore, cyber security is key to making sure that transmission, reception and trustworthiness of these signals and the coordinated communications required to manage them is guarded from intentional (malicious) exploitation and accidental intrusion. Some of these vulnerabilities are relatively well understood (such as natural events like earthquakes) while others are only recently emerging, broadly falling into the category of cyber phenomena. In particular, two key cyber elements affecting the grid’s timing capability are Cyber Resilience and Cyber Trust. Characterization of their effects with respect to performance thresholds and spatiotemporal dynamics is critical towards developing mitigation strategies that achieve and maintain operational performance in the presence of cyber stress conditions, including malicious as well as non-intentional occurrences such as malware, misconfiguration, and calibration drift. Starting with basic functionality, the timing services of DarkNet, will be systematically subjected to a range of cyber phenomena that stress four key performance factors, namely: Accuracy, Manageability, Telemetry, and Visibility. This analysis is designed to provide insights into four important categories of undesirable cyber phenomena: Loss of View (LoV), Loss of Control (LoC), Manipulation of View (MoV), and Manipulation of Control (MoC).