Abstract—Coordinated variable structure switching attacks have been recently proposed as a class of cyber-physical attacks on future smart grid systems. In the traditional formulation of this assault, the opponent is assumed to have a local model of the power system and knowledge of the state (rotor angle and frequency) of a target generator under attack. In this paper, we study the performance of this attack when the opponent has imperfect knowledge of the local system dynamics and partial knowledge of the generator state. In such a situation, we demonstrate how the attacker can make use of Luenberger-based state estimation techniques that are robust to model error to still achieve power system disruption via rotor angle instability. I.

Abstract—This paper explores distributed smart grid attack strategies to destabilize power system components using variable structure system theory. Here, an opponent is able to remotely control multiple circuit breakers within a power system, say through data corruption or communication network attack, to destabilize target synchronous generators through application of state-dependent breaker switching. In contrast to attack via a single breaker, the multi-switch case provides additional degrees of freedom that can lead to stealthier and wide-scale cascading failures. We provide a dynamical systems context for formulating distributed multi-switch strategies and execute such attacks on the New England 10-generator 39-bus test system. Index Terms—Coordinated multi-switch attacks, cyber-physical system security, sliding mode theory, smart grid attacks, variable structure system modeling. I.