The proliferation of cyber-physical systems is driving the growing need to establish links between these systems and virtual environments. Particularly in the smart grid, the high costs of some devices and the imminent need to prevent manipulation of these devices in production environments make mechanisms that allow the manipulation of these physical objects in virtual environments necessary; this has been called a digital twin (DT). Conversley, cyberattacks are growing in all cyber-physical systems and cybersecurity is essential to the critical infrastructure of the smart grid. This work shows a small implementation of a DT system for smart metering systems in a smart home environment for testing cybersecurity issues. The results show that the use of DTs is feasible in various contexts of the smart grid, particularly in cybersecurity testing.

The smart grid revolution has only been possible, thanks to the development and proliferation of smart meters. The increasingly growing computing capabilities for Internet of Things devices have made it possible for data to be processed directly from the devices where it is produced; this has been called edge computing. Edge computing is allowing the smart grid to become increasingly intelligent to solve problems that make electricity consumption more efficient and environmentally friendly. This work presents the implementation of a smart metering system that allows data analytics using a multiprocessing architecture directly on the smart meter. The results show that the development of smart meters with data analytics capabilities at the edge is a reality today, and the use of multiprocessing permits the improvement of data processing.

Although smart grids offer multiple advantages over traditional grids, there are still challenges to overcome to ensure the quality of service and grid security. In particular, cybersecurity plays an essential role in ensuring grid operation reliability and resilience to external threats. The traditional approach to address cybersecurity issues generally does not consider the human factor as the main component. Recently, the concept of cyber hygiene has emerged, where social and human aspects are fundamental to reduce vulnerabilities and the risk of attacks and breaches. In a similar manner to personal hygiene, which greatly influences people’s health, considering the human factor (i.e., human behaviour, awareness, and training) as a critical cybersecurity component, can significantly improve human operator cybersecurity practices that in turn can result in improved cybersecurity performance. In this paper, the authors propose and test a methodology for implementing cyber hygiene practices in the context of Smart Grid systems, focused on smart metering systems. The results suggest that implementing cyber hygiene practices can improve smart meter cybersecurity and be suitable for implementing other sensitive Smart Grid components. Key Words: Cybersecurity, Cyber Hygiene, Internet of Things, Smart Grid, Smart Meters.