Cyber Physical System Security

AY2024/2025 Semester 2

Cyber physical systems are typically designed as a network of interacting elements with physical input and output, and are characterized by the interaction between the physical world (sensors, user inputs, actuators) and the cyber world (processing, decision making). Cyber physical systems are the driving force behind modern civilization, being integral part of technologies, such as additive manufacturing, smartcard-based payment, power delivery systems, drone-based operations, and smart home automation. Cyber physical systems are characterized by stringent performance requirements, such as, extremely low energy budget, small area footprint and often hard real-time constraints. Due to the pervasive nature of the cyber physical systems in our everyday lives, it also runs the risk of huge security hazards. In this course, we will learn about the basics of cyber physical systems, including the design principles and methodologies. Further, there will be a detailed treatment of the security challenges for cyber physical systems, which vary in practice due to the diverse nature of the application environment of cyber physical systems. These different forms of security breaches, observed across diverse cyber physical systems, will be put in a well-characterized taxonomy, to be systematically identified as attack surfaces. The techniques to handle these attacks will be described in a generic manner, including key management and wireless/RFID communication. The attack surfaces and protection/mitigation principles will then be elaborated with practical case studies, from the representative cyber physical systems such as automotive, smart card systems and smart grid.