Towards Secured Smart Grid 2.0: Exploring Security Threats, Protection Models, and Challenges

Smart Grid 2.0 systems face multiple critical vulnerabilities across stakeholders: The paper identifies that power grid operators, communication network providers, and consumers are all particularly vulnerable to substation attacks/vandalism, malware/ransomware threats, blockchain vulnerabilities, and supply chain breakdowns—meaning security risks span the entire energy ecosystem rather than isolated points.

AI-powered energy management introduces new attack vectors: When artificial intelligence controls distributed energy resources in Smart Grid 2.0, adversarial samples and false data injection attacks on sensors can fool AI systems into making wrong decisions, including incorrect energy storage operations, faulty electric vehicle charging estimates, and fraudulent peer-to-peer energy transactions.

Cascading failures pose systemic risks: Because Smart Grid 2.0 relies heavily on communication networks to connect distributed microgrids, potential connectivity failures can cause disruption to data synchronization with remote control systems, creating risks of widespread energy distribution problems rather than isolated outages.

The transition to renewable energy increases security complexity: As nations pursue carbon-neutral energy by 2050 through Smart Grid 2.0's data-driven analytics and enhanced communication technologies, these same features that improve efficiency also expand the attack surface that malicious actors can exploit.