The increasing digitalization of power grids and especially the shift towards IP-based communication drastically increase the susceptibility to cyberattacks, potentially leading to blackouts and physical damage. Understanding the involved risks, the interplay of communication and physical assets, and the effects of cyberattacks are paramount for the uninterrupted operation of this critical infrastructure. However, as the impact of cyberattacks cannot be researched in real-world power grids, current efforts tend to focus on analyzing isolated aspects at small scales, often covering only either physical or communication assets. To fill this gap, we present WATTSON, a comprehensive research environment that facilitates reproducing, implementing, and analyzing cyberattacks against power grids and, in particular, their impact on both communication and physical processes. We validate WATTSON's accuracy against a physical testbed and show its scalability to realistic power grid sizes. We then perform authentic cyberattacks, such as Industroyer, within the environment and study their impact on the power grid's energy and communication side. Besides known vulnerabilities, our results reveal the ripple effects of susceptible communication on complex cyber-physical processes and thus lay the foundation for effective countermeasures.

翻译：电网日益数字化，尤其是向基于IP的通信转变，急剧增加了其遭受网络攻击的脆弱性，可能导致停电和物理损坏。理解所涉及的风险、通信与物理资产的相互作用以及网络攻击的影响，对于这一关键基础设施的不间断运行至关重要。然而，由于无法在实际电网中研究网络攻击的影响，现有工作往往侧重于在小规模下分析孤立方面，通常仅涵盖物理或通信资产之一。为填补这一空白，我们提出了WATTSON，一个全面的研究环境，有助于复现、实施和分析针对电网的网络攻击，特别是其对通信和物理过程的影响。我们通过物理测试平台验证了WATTSON的准确性，并展示了其扩展到实际电网规模的能力。随后，我们在该环境中执行了真实的网络攻击（如Industroyer），并研究其对电网能源和通信侧的影响。除了已知的漏洞外，我们的结果还揭示了脆弱通信对复杂网络物理过程的涟漪效应，从而为有效的防御措施奠定了基础。