ANCHOR-Grid: Authenticating Smart Grid Digital Twins Using Real-World Anchors

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Abstract
Integrating digital twins (DTs) into smart grid systems within the Internet of Smart Grid Things (IoSGT) ecosystem brings novel opportunities but also security challenges. Specifically, advanced machine learning (ML)-based Deepfake technologies enable adversaries to create highly realistic yet fraudulent DTs, threatening critical infrastructures’ reliability, safety, and integrity. In this paper, we introduce Authenticating Networked Computerized Handling of Representations for Smart Grid security (ANCHOR-Grid), an innovative authentication framework that leverages Electric Network Frequency (ENF) signals as real-world anchors to secure smart grid DTs at the frontier against Deepfake attacks. By capturing distinctive ENF variations from physical grid components and embedding these environmental fingerprints into their digital counterparts, ANCHOR-Grid provides a robust mechanism to ensure the authenticity and trustworthiness of virtual representations. We conducted comprehensive simulations and experiments within a virtual smart grid environment to evaluate ANCHOR-Grid. We crafted both authentic and Deepfake DTs of grid components, with the latter attempting to mimic legitimate behavior but lacking correct ENF signatures. Our results show that ANCHOR-Grid effectively differentiates between authentic and fraudulent DTs, demonstrating its potential as a reliable security layer for smart grid systems operating in the IoSGT ecosystem. In our virtual smart grid simulations, ANCHOR-Grid achieved a detection rate of 99.8% with only 0.2% false positives for Deepfake DTs at a sparse attack rate (1 forged packet per 500 legitimate packets). At a higher attack frequency (1 forged packet per 50 legitimate packets), it maintained a robust 97.5% detection rate with 1.5% false positives. Against replay attacks, it detected 94% of 5 s-old signatures and 98.5% of 120 s-old signatures. Even with 5% injected noise, detection remained at 96.5% (dropping to 88% at 20% noise), and under network latencies from <5 ms to 200 ms, accuracy ranged from 99.9% down to 95%. These results demonstrate ANCHOR-Grid’s high reliability and practical viability for securing smart grid DTs. These findings highlight the importance of integrating real-world environmental data into authentication processes for critical infrastructure and lay the foundation for future research on leveraging physical world cues to secure digital ecosystems.
Funding Information
  • Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (FA8750-15-3-6003, FA9550-15-0001, FA9550-20-F-0005)

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