Integrated Modeling of Cybersecurity and Blockchain for Smart Grid Systems

This study presents an integrated modelling framework that combines threat modelling and mitigation for smart grid cybersecurity with a permissioned-blockchain architecture for secure, auditable energy transactions and device authentication. This work (1) formalize attack surfaces specific to smart grid communication and distributed energy resources; (2) propose a hybrid architecture using a permissioned consortium blockchain to provide tamper-evident logs and decentralized authentication; and (3) present a simulationdriven evaluation methodology (attack injection and blockchain performance metrics) to quantify trade-offs between security, latency, and scalability. Results show that a carefully designed permissioned blockchain with lightweight consensus and on-chain/off-chain partitioning can significantly improve integrity and auditability while maintaining acceptable latency for typical distribution grid operations. Key contributions include a combined risk metric, an attacker–defender game-theoretic model, and practical deployment guidelines.