Analyzing Spatially and Temporally Coordinated Cyberattacks in Cyber-Physical Systems: A Systematic Co-Simulation Study for IEEE Bus Systems Using MATLAB/SIMULINK and TrueTime Toolbox

The integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) has transformed the traditional grids into complex, interconnected systems known as cyber-physical systems (CPS), resulting in unprecedented efficiency and control, but at the same time exposing the system to a variety of sophisticated cybersecurity vulnerabilities. While studies have addressed singular, isolated attacks, the systemic risks posed by spatially and temporally coordinated cyber-attacks on DERs require further exploration. This work contributes to systematically investigating a diverse cyber-attack scenario comprising 40 distinct attacks according to spatial, temporal and compositional characteristics involving Denial of Service (DoS), Man-in-the-Middle (MITM), and False Data Injection (FDI) vectors, using a co-simulation testbed that leverages MATLAB/Simulink and the TrueTime toolbox to implement physical process modeling and discrete-event network simulation of the IEEE 33-bus system. The insights from the analysis of key performance metrics, including power mismatch and recovery time revealed critical vulnerabilities and conclusively demonstrated that attacks targeting the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) induce the most severe instabilities with prolonged recovery times. This work provides a comprehensive outlook on complex attack dynamics and lays the groundwork for developing advanced intrusion detection systems by producing a rich synthetic dataset.