Adaptive Protection of Power Grids against Stealthy Load Alterations

High-energy IoT-controlled loads like large-scale Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) are vulnerable to load alteration attacks. Attackers can compromise HVAC sensor readings and increase the load demand to cause cascading voltage failures and, eventually, blackouts. This work proposes an adaptive protection mechanism that updates the operating threshold for a voltage protection system to detect such attacks before they cause blackouts.