An Enhanced Online Certificate Status Protocol for Public Key Infrastructure with Smart Grid and Energy Storage System

TL;DR

This paper proposes an enhanced OCSP method using stapling to improve efficiency and security in smart grid PKI environments, reducing query costs and safeguarding communications.

Contribution

It introduces an OCSP stapling approach tailored for smart grid systems, optimizing certificate status checks and enhancing security beyond standard protocols.

Findings

OCSP stapling reduces query load significantly.

The approach improves communication security in smart grids.

Experimental results confirm increased efficiency and robustness.

Abstract

The efficiency of checking certificate status is one of the key indicators in the public key infrastructure (PKI). This prompted researchers to design the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) standard, defined in RFC 6960, to guide developers in implementing OCSP components. However, as the environment increasingly relies on PKI for identity authentication, it is essential to protect the communication between clients and servers from rogue elements. This can be achieved by using SSL/TLS techniques to establish a secure channel, allowing Certificate Authorities (CAs) to safely transfer certificate status information. In this work, we introduce the OCSP Stapling approach to optimize OCSP query costs in our smart grid environment. This approach reduces the number of queries from the Device Language Message Specification (DLMS) server to the OCSP server. Our experimental results show that OCSP stapling increases both efficiency and security, creating a more robust architecture for the smart grid.