Risk Analysis and Probabilistic Survivability Assessment (RAPSA): An Assessment Approach for Power Substation Hardening

1 Portions of this work were funded by grant #60NANB1D0116 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Abstract In this paper we present a new cyber security assessment approach, which merges Survivability System Analysis (SSA) with Probability Risk Assessment (PRA). The method adds quantitative information to the process oriented SSA method, which assists with decision making among security options. Our technique is currently being developed for power industry cyber security assessment and hardening. A substation example is presented, with hypothetical risks and costs from several attack scenarios. Our technique features self-assessment, risk estimates based on actual data and quantifiable inputs for decision analysis. This assessment method is particularly well suited to hardening critical infrastructure systems against cyber attack and terrorism.