Vulnerability-Based Optimal Grid Defense Strategies for Enhancing Cyber-Physical Energy System Resilience

Abstract: An approach is proposed to identify optimal asset protection strategies based on vulnerability assessment outcomes. Traditional bilevel attacker-defender models emphasize worstcase scenarios but offer limited defensive guidance. In contrast, trilevel models introduce high computational complexity and rely on fixed network configurations. The proposed critical-components method leverages vulnerability assessment results to determine protection strategies, effectively outsourcing the upper-level defense decision. This enables adaptability to diverse network topologies, assessment techniques, and cyber-physical energy systems without the overhead of multi-level optimization. Case studies demonstrate the potential for improved system resilience across varying operational conditions.