Reliability analysis of cyber security in an electrical power system associated WAN

Since increasingly applications and involvement of communication technologies in electric power utilities, especially for the protection and control of the power system, cyber security has become a more and more important issue. This paper provides a complete picture for the framework of an electrical power system associated data communication system. A Wide Area Network (WAN) interconnects a number of Local Area Networks (LANs), representing transmission and distribution substations, and customers. Based on this framework, the cooperation of the communication system and the power system is investigated, regarding before, during and after cyber attacks. Finally the possible impacts of the performance of the data communication system to the protection and control systems within the electrical power system are discussed.