COCOON

COOPERATIVE CYBER PROTECTION FOR MODERN POWER GRIDS

The electrification of the European Union (EU) is driving the decentralization and digitalization of Electrical Power and Energy Systems (EPES), incorporating Distributed Renewable Sources (DRES) as a pivotal pathway towards decarbonization and climate mitigation. However, the existing setups managed by Transmission System Operators (TSOs), Distributio System Operators (DSOs), and aggregators face cybersecurity challenges at the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT). Recent geopolitical like the war in Ukraine, underscore the vulnerability of the interconnected EU power grid to malicious activities. In response, COCOON aims to deliver a practical cyber-physical sys solution for converged EPES.

The project has outlined key objectives to address the existing challenges. Firstly, it seeks to increase trustworthy information exchange by developing the COCOON Programmable (CPN). This CPN will accelerate data processing, forwarding, and control functionalities, providing a bottom-up solution for supporting computationally intensive cyber protection app Secondly, COCOON aims to implement an Early Warning System (EWS) for cooperative cyber-physical protection and operator training. This system, coupled with CPN functionality enhance real-time measurement, monitoring, and DL-based attack diagnosis.

Thirdly, COCOON aims to enable real-time cyber-physical protection by mapping explicit OT properties to IT vulnerabilities, addressing cybersecurity challenges resulting from the convergence of IT with OT technologies. The project plans to provide a measurement-based methodology attributing threat vectors with violations of technical and physical constrain power distribution networks. Additionally, COCOON seeks to achieve data-driven detection of known and unknown (zero-day) exploits in converged IT/OT setups through the synergy graph-based data provenance and DL-based regression analysis.

Finally, COCOON aims to strengthen the resilience of interactions among entities involved in grid stability processes through practical network and system threat mitigation mechanics These mechanisms will be orchestrated by a cross-domain programmable data plane scheme inherent to the CPN, enhancing the resilience of interactions among entities involved stability processes.

In conclusion, COCOON’s comprehensive approach, aligned with EU ACER NCCS and SGAM framework, aims to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in cyber-physical protection for EPES setups, contributing to a more secure and resilient energy infrastructure in the EU.