Cybersecurity Issues in Local Energy Markets

TL;DR

This paper examines cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Local Energy Markets, demonstrating how cyberattacks can manipulate market operations and proposing security recommendations for stakeholders.

Contribution

It maps LEM communication standards, analyzes potential vulnerabilities, and simulates cyberattack impacts to inform security strategies.

Findings

Attackers can distort pricing and demand patterns

Cyber vulnerabilities can compromise market integrity

Recommendations for securing LEM deployments

Abstract

Local Energy Markets (LEMs), though pivotal to the energy transition, face growing cybersecurity threats due to their reliance on smart grid communication standards and vulnerable Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled devices. This is a critical issue because such vulnerabilities can be exploited to manipulate market operations, compromise participants' privacy, and destabilize power distribution networks. This work maps LEM communication flows to existing standards, highlights potential impacts of key identified vulnerabilities, and simulates cyberattack scenarios on a privacy-preserving LEM model to assess their impacts. Findings reveal how attackers could distort pricing and demand patterns. We finally present recommendations for researchers, industry developers, policymakers, and LEM stakeholders to secure future LEM deployments.