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Emergence of Cybersecurity has increased the focus on security risks to Information Technology (IT) assets going beyond traditional Information Assurance (IA) concerns: More sophisticated threats have emerged from increasing sources as advanced hacker tools and techniques have emerged and proliferated to broaden the attack surface available across globally interconnected networks.
Automated test and measurement systems are coming under increased cybersecurity scrutiny. Most of these systems fall under the “Operational Technology” designation, as defined by NIST, and often have unique requirements that conflict with enterprise security policy. These systems are typically not well understood by traditional enterprise IT personnel, which leaves them ill-supported or invalidated.▪This presentation attempts to help Test System owners recognize the security landscape, determine their unique system requirements and concerns, and negotiate a peer-level working arrangement with an existing IT department while maintaining a NIST-recommended level of autonomy and sovereignty.
Concepts for the management of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) at scale rely on the exchange of data amongst multiple stakeholders. Even as these concepts vary from State to State and company to company as of today, the movement of data between different entities is a common theme. While there is universal agreement on the necessity of appropriate cybersecurity applied to the various systems involved in communicating these data, there has been little focus on a feasible implementation of non-repudiation in these systems. This paper highlights the current and future need for non-repudiation, supported by references to multiple international organizations, and an approach to implementing non-repudiation leveraging open standards.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has become a focus for the next generation of aerial passenger transportation. UAM operations will be leveraging a service-based architecture for airspace solutions. The UAM environment will leverage diverse communications and system access approaches. These approaches include independent Providers of Services for UAM and supplemental data service providers that exchange data between themselves and UAM operators. This research focuses on the secure data exchange and storage of this decentralized UAM environment to address these challenges. This research intends to leverage a permissioned blockchain approach to address cybersecurity threats that may impact a UAM environment.
Concepts for the management of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) at scale rely on the exchange of data amongst multiple stakeholders. Even as these concepts vary across nations and industries, the movement of data between entities is a common theme. While there is universal agreement on the necessity of appropriate cybersecurity measures to address data communication, there has been minimal focus on the feasibility of implementing non-repudiation solutions for UAS systems. This means that data exchanged in support of UAS operations are open to “attack” via parties that may deny sending or receiving certain data, which can weaken the effectiveness and acceptability of these systems. This paper highlights the current and future need for non-repudiation, supported by references to multiple international organizations, and an approach to implementing non-repudiation leveraging open standards.
With the growth in Urban Air Mobility systems and the increasing reliance on interconnected technologies, ensuring the security of these complex components has become critical. As cities evolve into smart urban centers, the vulnerability to cyber threats escalates, possibly endangering citizens safety and the efficiency of transportation networks.In response to these challenges, this paper presents a study on the need for cyber resilient techniques within future air traffic environments. It will pay specific attention to the implementation of a Host-Based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) utilizing Atomic OSSEC software, tailored specifically to a NASA simulation of an UrbanAirMobility environments’ unique demands. Further, this study seeks to outline the rational for NASA’s recommendation for a HIDS in such environments. It explores the design, development, and deployment of the proposed HIDS, focusing on its adaptability to monitor the hybrid nature of the Urban Air Mobility environment. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and anomaly detection techniques, the HIDS is equipped to continuously monitor and analyze the behavior of individual host systems, vehicles, and devices, thereby providing a proactive approach to threat detection. Implementing a HIDS is a pivotal strategy for enhancing cyber resiliency, as it gives an organization granular visibility into internal system activities, enables rapid detection and response to anomalous behavior and cyber threats, and fortifies the organizations overall cybersecurity posture. Finally, this study aims to provide recommendations and include learned takeaways that the Urban Air Mobility industry should consider. In brief, this paper highlights the significance of host-based intrusion detection in UrbanAirMobility environments and underscores the necessity of tailored security solutions to safeguard against emerging cyber threats.
ATM-X subproject, DIP (Digital Information Platform) is hosting a Service Provider(SP) workshop to discuss Service Quality, Data Governance, Cybersecurity, and Interoperability. This workshop will provide an interactive forum for exchanging ideas with peers and experts. Service Providers have a chance to influence future developments and ensure that your services align with DIP’s vision of the future aviation ecosystem.
Dynamic and uncertain security environments, such as cyber systems, often involve strategic interactions among multiple decision-making agents. In this paper, we consider a cybersecurity setting where a system administrator (defender) has to screen malicious service requests of an attacker who seeks to exhaust available cyber resources and inconvenience users with normal requests. We propose a novel cyber-threat inspection model, based on Stackelberg games, that unies aspects of Threat Security Games with the Erlang-B queuing framework to provide equilibrium strategies for both the attacker and defender. In our proposed model, the defender seeks to determine the optimal number of inspection nodes required to maximize detection probability of malicious requests, while the attacker maximizes the probability of legitimate requests dropping out of the system. We derive analytical expressions of the equilibrium solutions of the proposed Stackelberg game under realistic assumptions on system observability and payoff structure of the players. A numerical case study is presented, and steps for further research are identified.
Recently, there is increasing interest in using behind-the-meter (BTM) solar systems for grid services. However, providing visibility and operational situational awareness of BTM solar systems mainly operated by small-scale solar inverters is challenging due to the requirement of relatively expansive networked observation tools (e.g., micro phasor measurement units (uPMUs)) and consequent cybersecurity threats through networks. This paper presents a secure, cost-effective, uPMUs-like metering method using a blockchain-assisted smart (BAS) inverters for a BTM solar system. The proposed BAS inverter consisting of an internet-of-things device as a node of a local blockchain network enables the secure provision of inverter measurement data for grid services. The BAS inverter sends the encrypted local measurement data with a timestamp to a local blockchain miner. Once the blockchain miner generates a tamper-resistant metering ledger including the measurements, it is used to assess the situational awareness of the BTM solar system. The concept of the proposed metering using the BAS inverters is validated by experimental studies.
The nuclear supply chain attack surface is a large, complex network of interconnected stakeholders and activities. The global economy has widened and deepened the supply chain, resulting in larger numbers of geographically dispersed locations and increased difficulty ensuring the authenticity and security of digital assets. Although the nuclear industry has made significant strides in securing facilities from cyber-attacks, the supply chain remains vulnerable. This paper outlines supply chain threats and vulnerabilities and provides a Digital I&C System Supply Chain Cyber-Attack Surface diagram to illustrate the complexity of securing hardware, firmware, software, and system information throughout the entire supply chain lifecycle. The knowledge presented in this paper provides a foundation to use in cybersecurity supply chain risk analysis and to guide future supply chain research and development efforts leading to enhancement of a nuclear facility’s overall security posture.
This analysis compares how the existing critical infrastructure continues to be vulnerable and with smart grid technologies being implemented exposes IES, power systems, the grid, and renewable energy in new ways. Continued work in cybersecurity will thwart efforts against adversaries having an opportunity to penetrate these systems.
This is a presentation for the Operational Technology Class to be used during Cyber Fire Foundry 17. Much of this training content has been used in other trainings that have already gone through the lab review system (CYBERSTRIKE, Ladder Logic, CSET). This presentation contains training content related to Operational Technology Cybersecurity topics.
The key objective of Improving the Cyber Resiliency and Security Posture of Public Power (Project) was to develop a culture of cyber resiliency and security within the public power community. The relative smaller size and unique structure of community-owned electric utilities can sometimes present challenges in immediate recognition of threats and the escalation of potential incidents. The Project offered targeted education, coordination, capability building, and resources to help the public power community better understand, install, and implement cyber and physical resiliency and security systems. The American Public Power Association (APPA) accelerated efforts to develop resources for and with the public power community to understand and implement resiliency, cybersecurity and cyber-physical solutions, including refining and improving the adoption of advanced control concepts. The Project consisted of four major multi-pronged tasks which included: 1) Advance cyber resiliency and security assessments; 2) Conduct, evaluate, and use the results of onsite vulnerability assessments; 3) Research, evaluate, deploy, and integrate both commercial and pre-commercial security technologies; and 4) Research, evaluate, and implement information sharing mechanisms.
With the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) cyber range, researchers can replicate cybersecurity scenarios as they would occur on real, complex energy systems. With supercomputing and advanced emulation capabilities, the cyber range allows users to build digital twins of real systems and connect the emulated environment to actual physical devices throughout NREL's laboratories. The space offers unlimited potential to test the frontier of energy systems security.
Cyberattacks come in many forms, including one of the newest and most threatening of attacks: ransomware. The rise in ransomware impacts businesses small and large -- and have the potential to significantly disrupt the operations of critical infrastructure. This presentation will explain what utilities can expect from a ransomware attack, sharing examples from specific events, provide guidance on how to prepare for the unknown, and offer possible ways to respond when an attack occurs. The presentation will also discuss cybersecurity governance as an effective method in taking preventative action to ransomware by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities through monitoring and assessment.
This is a submission for the 2022 Intern Poster Session. The abstract of the poster is: Smart buildings are getting more common, and so are hackers that target them. The physical systems in our businesses and homes are now vulnerable to cyber attacks. Using STIG, an INL program that turns cybersecurity data into graphs, buildings can be better protected.
As the grid of today is evolving into a highly distributed and autonomous cyber-physical system with higher penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and autonomous controls that are dependent on the cyber infrastructure, there are novel and increasing challenges to cyber-resilient operation of the grid. While the traditional mechanisms take a "bolt on" approach to cybersecurity and resiliency, this talk presents two novel technologies developed at NREL that "bake in" security and resilience into the design and control of the grid. An Adaptive Resilience Metrics framework is a novel mechanism for system owners and operators to understand the impact of cyber and physical system design and topology on the resilient operation, while also helping determine optimal policies in response to adverse cyber events. Along with that a zero-knowledge proof-based technique helps incorporate security into the controls layer by focusing on computational integrity rather than data integrity. By leveraging design and control properties unique to Operational Technology systems these technologies will not only help enhance cyber-resilience for the grid of today, but a highly distributed and autonomous grid of tomorrow.
Axonius, a cybersecurity asset management tool used at INL, provides visibility into users, devices, software, and hardware in use at the lab. This visibility, provided by aggregating data on lab entities from many tools' perspectives, makes incident response, configuration management, and IT operations more capable.