Development of a Cyberattack Detection Model for a Water Distribution System using Water Quality and Hydraulic Criteria

In recent years, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) have been applied to Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) to facilitate efficient operation and maintenance. Since data are transmitted through the network in such systems, a cyberattack can disrupt the operation of WDSs, for example, by causing water supply reduction, water pollution, and economic losses. In the past few years, cyberattack detection algorithms and various cyberattack scenarios have been proposed. These studies considered either hydraulic factors, such as pipe velocity, nodal pressure, or tank level, or water quality factors. However, an algorithm which considers only one factor cannot prevent the various problems that may arise, such as water quality issues, and the hydraulic and quality factors have a correlation. Therefore, in this study, a framework was developed by considering both hydraulic and water quality factors. The proposed approach was applied to an artificial neural network model. Performance indicators were used to examine the detection performance according to the parameters of the artificial neural network. By comparing the detection performance when only hydraulic factors were considered and the performance when both hydraulic and water quality factors were considered, the effectiveness of the algorithm that consider both hydraulic and water quality factors was demonstrated. A cyberattack detection algorithm that considers both hydraulic and water quality criteria can be applicable in more realistic scenarios and contribute to the establishment of safe infrastructure for the entire process of designing and operating WDSs with CPSs.