An Early Warning System based on Reputation for Energy Control Systems Cristina Alcaraz, Carmen Fernandez-Gago, and Javier Lopez Computer Science Department, University of Malaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, 29071, Malaga, Spain {alcaraz,mcgago,jlm}@lcc.uma.es October 29, 2015 Abstract Most of energy control or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are very dependent on advanced technologies and on traditional security mechanisms for protecting the a system against anomalous events. Security mechanisms are not enough to be used in critical systems, since they can only detect anomalous events occurring at a certain moment in time. For this reason it becomes of paramount importance the usage of intelligent systems with capability for preventing anomalous situations and reacting against them on time. This type of systems are, for example, Early Warning Systems (EWS). In this paper, we propose an EWS based on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) (under the ISA100.11a standard) and reputation for controling the network be- haviour. The WSN are organized into clusters where a Cluster Head (CH) is designated. This CH will contain a Reputation Manager Module. The usability of this approach is also analyzed considering a Smart Grid sce- nario. Keywords: Early Warning Systems, Wireless Sensor Networks, Repu- tation, SCADA Systems, Smart Grid 1 Introduction According to the conceptual model described by NIST in [1], part of the func- tionality of a Smart Grid is associated to the remote control of power substa- tions that ensure an efficient energy generation and distribution to residential complexes. The control is basically managed by a centralized system known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. Although this control form a unique entity, it has a special influence on the rest of domains by supervising operational activities and residential complexes. However, this type of interaction among domains could trigger in serious consequences when part of the control and substations are disrupted. Then, 1 C. Alcaraz, C. Fernandez-Gago, and J. Lopez, “An Early Warning System based on Reputation for Energy Control Systems”, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 2, pp. 827-834, 2011. http://doi.org/10.1109/TSG.2011.2161498 NICS Lab. Publications: https://www.nics.uma.es/publications