The growing number of grid-connected home/small business solar electric systems – so-called prosumers – are lucrative targets for cyber criminals due to the interconnectedness with the power grid and their potentially catastrophic consequences.
The number of cyber attacks in the utilities industry increased by 46% in 2021, compared to 2020, according to the latest Check Point Research (https://blog.checkpoint.com/2022/01/10/check-point-research-cyber-attacks-increased-50-year-over-year/). Since 2016, when an electric transmission station in Ukraine experienced a malware strike that blacked out a portion of Kiev, even states are aware that energy is a target.
The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory is also looking at these challenges and has been working on an emulation platform, which is known as the Cyber Range. It simulates complex energy systems for the evaluation of emerging threats, natural hazards, and impacts of energy disruption. (https://www.nrel.gov/security-resilience/cyber-range.html)
One of the pilot use cases to validate the security solution of IoTAC is the prosumer cell. You can read more about it at https://iotac.eu/iotac-use-case-no-2-prosumer-cell/.
