Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “IT security”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,225 records · Page 68
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Secure Federated Learning Across Heterogeneous Cloud and High-Performance Computing Resources: A Case Study on Federated Fine-Tuning of LLaMA 2

Federated learning enables multiple data owners to collaboratively train robust machine learning models without transferring large or sensitive local datasets by only sharing the parameters of the locally trained models. Here, in this article, we elaborate on the design of our Advanced Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning (APPFL) framework, which streamlines end-to-end secure and reliable federated learning experiments across cloud computing facilities and high-performance computing resources by leveraging Globus Compute, a distributed function as a service platform, and Amazon Web Services. We further demonstrate the use case of APPFL in fine-tuning an LLaMA 2 7B model using several cloud resources and supercomputers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Blockchain for Smart Grid Resilience: Exchanging Distributed Energy at Speed, Scale and Security

Blockchain may help solve several complex problems related to integrity and trustworthiness of rapid, distributed, complex energy transactions and data exchanges. In a move towards resilience, blockchain commoditizes trust and enables automated smart contracts to support auditable multiparty transactions based on predefined rules between distributed energy providers and customers. Blockchain based smart contracts also help remove the need to interact with third-parties, facilitating the adoption and monetization of distributed energy transactions and exchanges, both energy flows as well as financial transactions. This may help reduce transactive energy costs and increase the security and sustainability of distributed energy resource (DER) integration, helping to remove barriers to a more decentralized and resilient power grid.

Blockchain↗
DOE OSTI2024

Deciphering Discrepancies: A Comparative Analysis of Docker Image Security

As the use of microservices continues to grow and become a foundational approach to architecting software solutions, ensuring the security of microservices is paramount. Docker images have emerged as the predominant solution to containerize microservices–and thus, Docker images are becoming a large attack surface. Thus, reducing vulnerabilities in Docker images will reduce microservice cyberattacks. A common way to find vulnerabilities in Docker images employs static analysis tools like Trivy and Grype. However, these tools frequently generate disparate vulnerability reports when analyzing the same Docker image, thus causing uncertainty in tool selection. We collected 927 Docker images, analyzed them with Trivy and Grype, and compared the vulnerabilities reported in each image. Among the 865 images found to have vulnerabilities, Trivy and Grype disagreed on both the number of vulnerabilities and the vulnerability IDs found therein. Since both tools interface with external vulnerability databases, some discrepancies can be attributed to how the tools interface with these external resources. The external vulnerability databases partially overlap and frequently contradict one another, thereby creating challenges for static analysis tool developers and end users alike. This New Ideas and Emerging Results (NIER) study contains new and critical information that practitioners need for selecting and using static analysis tools–given that increases in the use of Docker technologies means increases in the size of the attack surfaces.

Boles, Brittany [Montana State University]↗
DOE OSTI2014

Uncertainty-based Estimation of the Secure Range for ISO New England Dynamic Interchange Adjustment

The paper proposes an approach to estimate the secure range for dynamic interchange adjustment, which assists system operators in scheduling the interchange with neighboring control areas. Uncertainties associated with various sources are incorporated. The proposed method is implemented in the dynamic interchange adjustment (DINA) tool developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for ISO New England. Simulation results are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

forecast errors↗
DOE OSTI2014

Cyber-Physical System Security With Deceptive Virtual Hosts for Industrial Control Networks

A challenge facing industrial control network administrators is protecting the typically large number of connected assets for which they are responsible. These cyber devices may be tightly coupled with the physical processes they control and human induced failures risk dire real-world consequences. Dynamic virtual honeypots are effective tools for observing and attracting network intruder activity. This paper presents a design and implementation for self-configuring honeypots that passively examine control system network traffic and actively adapt to the observed environment. In contrast to prior work in the field, six tools were analyzed for suitability of network entity information gathering. Ettercap, an established network security tool not commonly used in this capacity, outperformed the other tools and was chosen for implementation. Utilizing Ettercap XML output, a novel four-step algorithm was developed for autonomous creation and update of a Honeyd configuration. This algorithm was tested on an existing small campus grid and sensor network by execution of a collaborative usage scenario. Automatically created virtual hosts were deployed in concert with an anomaly behavior (AB) system in an attack scenario. Virtual hosts were automatically configured with unique emulated network stack behaviors for 92% of the targeted devices. The AB system alerted on 100% of the monitored emulated devices.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhanced Security-Constrained OPF With Distributed Battery Energy Storage

This paper discusses how fast-response distributed battery energy storage could be used to implement post-contingency corrective control actions. Immediately after a contingency, the injections of distributed batteries could be adjusted to alleviate overloads and reduce flows below their short-term emergency rating. This ensures that the post-contingency system remains stable until the operator has redispatched the generation. Implementing this form of corrective control would allow operators to take advantage of the difference between the short-and long-term ratings of the lines and would therefore increase the available transmission capacity. This problem is formulated as a two-stage, enhanced security-constrained OPF problem, in which the first-stage optimizes the pre-contingency generation dispatch, while the second-stage minimizes the corrective actions for each contingency. Case studies based on a six-bus test system and on the RTS 96 demonstrate that the proposed method provides effective corrective actions and can guarantee operational reliability and economy.

Wen, YF↗
DOE OSTI2019

Learning Behavior of Distribution System Discrete Control Devices for Cyber-Physical Security

Conventional cyber-security intrusion detection systems monitor network traffic for malicious activity and indications that an adversary has gained access to the system. The approach discussed here expands the idea of a traditional intrusion detection system within electrical power systems, specifically power distribution networks, by monitoring the physical behavior of the grid. This is achieved through the use of high-rate distribution Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), alongside SCADA packets analysis, for the purpose of monitoring the behavior of discrete control devices. In this work we present a set of algorithms for passively learning the control logic of voltage regulators and switched capacitor banks. Upon detection of an abnormal operation, the operator is alerted and further action can be taken. Finally, the proposed learning algorithms are validated on both simulated data and on measured PMU data from a utility pilot deployment site.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Duality-Free Decomposition Based Data-Driven Stochastic Security-Constrained Unit Commitment

To incorporate the superiority of both stochastic and robust approaches, a data-driven stochastic optimization is employed to solve the security-constrained unit commitment model. This approach makes the most use of the historical data to generate a set of possible probability distributions for wind power outputs and then it optimizes the unit commitment under the worst-case probability distribution. However, this model suffers from huge computational burden, as a large number of scenarios are considered. To tackle this issue, a duality-free decomposition method is proposed in this paper. This approach does not require doing duality, which can save a large set of dual variables and constraints, and therefore reduces the computational burden. In addition, the inner max-min problem has a special mathematical structure, where the scenarios have the similar constraint. Thus, the max-min problem can be decomposed into independent sub-problems to be solved in parallel, which further improves the computational efficiency. A numerical study on an IEEE 118-bus system with practical data of a wind power system has demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposal.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Detectors for Accelerator-Based Security Applications

We present of review of detector systems used in accelerator-based national security applications. In gen-eral, the detectors used for these applications are also used in passive measurements. The critical difference is that detector systems for accelerator-based applications in general need to discriminate beam-generated background from the intended signal. Typical techniques to remove background include shielding, timing, selection of sensitive materials, and choice of accelerator.

Warren, Glen A.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Developing an Ontology for Cyber Security Knowledge Graphs

In this paper we describe an ontology developed for a cyber security knowledge graph database. This is intended to provide an organized schema that incorporates information from a large variety of structured and unstructured data sources, and includes all relevant concepts within the domain. We compare the resulting ontology with previous efforts, discuss its strengths and limitations, and describe areas for future work.

Iannacone, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2019

Secure Design and Development Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (SD2-C2M2): Next-Generation Cyber Resilience by Design

The Secure Design and Development Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (SD2-C2M2) provides a browser-based tool that allows hardware and software developers to assess the maturity level of their design and development processes, allows management to determine desired maturity levels in seven domains, and allows developers to monitor process maturity improvements against management goals. The tool can be used by commercial developers as well as internal development organizations. This paper provides an overview of the tool and domains and presents a hypothetical case study of the tool to reduce software buffer overflow attack vulnerabilities by improving the software development process.

Gourisetti, Sri Nikhil G.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Stream-Processing Architecture for Real-time Cyber-physical Security (SPARCS) v0.9

The Stream-Processing Architecture for Real-time Cyber-physical Security is a generalized framework for extracting power-related sensor information from sensors, optionally analyzing that data on computing platforms local to the sensors, transmitting that information to a central location, storing that information, running centralized analytics on the information, and providing both API and visual access to that information.

Mcparland, Charles McparlandP↗
DOE OSTI2021

ESnet Secure Copy (EScp) v0.6

EScp is a high speed transfer tool with a similar command line syntax to scp. Unlike SCP it is designed to transfer files at high speed, thus far we have been able to show 100gbit/s transfers, although I expect that the throughput should scale in proportion to the network interface, i.e. I expect 400gbit/s performance on our 400gbit/s test bed. EScp achieves good performance through an innovative design (multithreaded, zero copy transfers), along with pluggable filters and I/O engines. As an example, you can switch from POSIX i/O to UIO by checking a different engine. It also natively supports encryption, and cheksums for file verification and transport security. AAA is through standard SSH (same as SCP). By taking advantage of filters, EScp supports transferring unstructured data and/or I/O to non-posix data sources. Examples include streaming data (i.e. from equipment), transferring data to the cloud, and/or supporting non-posix file systems (like HPSS).

Shiflett, Charles↗
DOE OSTI2022

Security Catch and Release Automation Manager (SCRAM) v1.0

This is a security automation tool heavily influenced by the tool written at NCSA https://github.com/ncsa/bhr-site. The tool is a web interface that aims to centralize information on blocking malicious traffic. There is a list of currently blocked traffic, a place for other tools to automatically add traffic they deem malicious, as well as for human users to input blocks. * Logging and auditing, to determine who made what change and when * Automated expiration of changes (e.g. an exception is added for 2 weeks, after which time it will be removed) * Validation of changes and verification that the change has been applied * Fine-grained role-based access

Oehlert, Samuel↗
DOE OSTI2025

Aviation Security Screening Optimizer for Risk and ThroughputASSORT

The Aviation Security Screening Optimizer for Risk and Throughput (ASSORT) is designed to assess risk-based approaches for passenger screening and checkpoint operations. Additionally, ASSORT is exploring various traveler categories — general, trusted, and trusted-plus — along with different checkpoint screening Concept of Operations tailored to each traveler type

Brigantic, Robert [Pacific Northwest National Labo↗
DOE OSTI2025

Energy Supply Security Index (eesi) v0.1.0

This software computes different metrics that quantify energy supply security. It computes metrics for the amount of energy self-production, autonomy, system adequacy, self-sufficiency and autarky. The software has been developed to compute metrics that are introduced in a journal manuscript, and the software is intended to be published to make the underlying metric calculation accessible and reproducible to the reader of the article. Potential use of the software is for policymakers, energy planners and researchers to guide energy system infrastructure decisions.

Sulzer, Matthias [Swiss Federal Laboratories for M↗