inf-TESLA: Multicast Delayed Authentication For Streaming Sensor Data in Electric Power Systems

Published

June 1, 2016

Author(s)

Sergio Camara, Dhananjay Anand, Victoria Yan Pillitteri, Luiz F. Carmo

Abstract

Multicast authentication of synchrophasor data is challenging due to the design requirements of electric power monitoring systems such as low security overhead, tolerance of lossy networks, time-criticality and high data rates. In this work, we propose inf-TESLA, a multicast delayed authentication protocol for communication links used to stream phasor data for wide area control of electric power networks. Our approach is based on the authentication protocol TESLA but is augmented to accommodate high frequency transmissions of unbounded length. Crucially, our protocol utilizes dual offset key chains to reduce authentication delay and computational overhead associated with key chain commitment. We provide a description of our approach using two different modes for disclosing keys. We compare our approach against the TESLA protocol, showing a cumulative reduction in the communication overhead and computational cost particularly for long transmissions. Further, we demonstrate a design tradeoff between attack authority and authentication delay for the time dependent robust stability of a wide area damping control system.

Proceedings Title

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

Volume

471

Conference Dates

May 30-June 1, 2016

Conference Location

Ghent, BE

Conference Title

ICT Systems Security and Privacy Protection

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33630-5_3

Local Download

Keywords

Multicast authentication, synchrophasors, Power Systems, Wide Area Control

Citation

Camara, S. , Anand, D. , Pillitteri, V. and Carmo, L. (2016), inf-TESLA: Multicast Delayed Authentication For Streaming Sensor Data in Electric Power Systems, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Ghent, BE, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33630-5_3, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=918993 (Accessed October 21, 2025)