The increasing reliance on smart grids to manage power distribution efficiently has introduced significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities due to their interconnected nature. Traditional security approaches often fall short in real-time protection, particularly against advanced threats such as data manipulation, unauthorized access, and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. This paper proposes a novel Smart Grid Secure Protocol (SGSP), integrating Attribute-Based Zero-Knowledge Proofs (AB-ZKP), Redundant Consensus Mechanisms combining Proof of Stake (PoS) and Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) for scalable and fault-tolerant consensus, and Grid Safe Smart Contracts (GSSC) to enhance data confidentiality, automate security enforcement, and resist cyber threats. The AB-ZKP mechanism ensures selective attribute verification while preserving privacy and keeping sensitive data off-chain. The hybrid consensus mechanism merges energy-efficient PoS with fault-tolerant PBFT, securing the Blockchain layer against DDoS and Sybil attacks. Meanwhile, GSSCs automate transaction validation and policy enforcement, reducing human intervention and enabling real-time anomaly detection. Experimental results in a simulated environment demonstrate high resilience, improved data privacy (98.7% compliance), fast consensus (1.2 s), low energy consumption (0.09 kWh/transaction), and strong DDoS resistance (92.5/100). The proposed approach significantly outperforms traditional methods, paving the way for secure, scalable, and privacy-preserving smart grid ecosystems.
Saxena et al. (Thu,) studied this question.