Open-Source Testbed to Evaluate the Cybersecurity of Phasor Measurement Units

The Phasor Measurement Unit provides clear data for ease of grid visibility. A major component of the device is the Global Positioning System (GPS) for time synchronization across the board. However, this device has become more susceptible to cyber-attacks such as spoofing. This paper constructs an opensource testbed for the playback of PMU data and testing of cyberattacks on PMUs. Using a local GPS device to simulate what is done in the PMU, MATLAB for data conversion, and Linux operating system running on Ubuntu, the simulator can be constructed. The spoofing attack is done by adding a phase shift of the incoming data to simulate that the data is coming from a different time stamp and shifts between the original. Finally, it is all brought together by viewing the output in an open source Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) to validate the process.