Research

Open AccessArticle

Digital-Twin-Based Security Analytics for the Internet of Things

by

Philip Empl

and

Günther Pernul

Information 2023, 14(2), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14020095 - 04 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1693

Abstract

Although there are numerous advantages of the IoT in industrial use, there are also some security problems, such as insecure supply chains or vulnerabilities. These lead to a threatening security posture in organizations. Security analytics is a collection of capabilities and technologies systematically [...] Read more.

Although there are numerous advantages of the IoT in industrial use, there are also some security problems, such as insecure supply chains or vulnerabilities. These lead to a threatening security posture in organizations. Security analytics is a collection of capabilities and technologies systematically processing and analyzing data to detect or predict threats and imminent incidents. As digital twins improve knowledge generation and sharing, they are an ideal foundation for security analytics in the IoT. Digital twins map physical assets to their respective virtual counterparts along the lifecycle. They leverage the connection between the physical and virtual environments and manage semantics, i.e., ontologies, functional relationships, and behavioral models. This paper presents the DT2SA model that aligns security analytics with digital twins to generate shareable cybersecurity knowledge. The model relies on a formal model resulting from previously defined requirements. We validated the DT2SA model with a microservice architecture called Twinsight, which is publicly available, open-source, and based on a real industry project. The results highlight challenges and strategies for leveraging cybersecurity knowledge in IoT using digital twins. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

Dynamic Random Graph Protection Scheme Based on Chaos and Cryptographic Random Mapping

by

Zhu Fang

and

Zhengquan Xu

Information 2022, 13(11), 537; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13110537 - 14 Nov 2022

Viewed by 965

Abstract

Advances in network technology have enhanced the concern for network security issues. In order to address the problem that hopping graph are vulnerable to external attacks (e.g., the changing rules of fixed graphs are more easily grasped by attackers) and the challenge of [...] Read more.

Advances in network technology have enhanced the concern for network security issues. In order to address the problem that hopping graph are vulnerable to external attacks (e.g., the changing rules of fixed graphs are more easily grasped by attackers) and the challenge of achieving both interactivity and randomness in a network environment, this paper proposed a scheme for a dynamic graph based on chaos and cryptographic random mapping. The scheme allows hopping nodes to compute and obtain dynamically random and uncorrelated graph of other nodes independently of each other without additional interaction after the computational process of synchronous mirroring. We first iterate through the chaos algorithm to generate random seed parameters, which are used as input parameters for the encryption algorithm; secondly, we execute the encryption algorithm to generate a ciphertext of a specified length, which is converted into a fixed point number; and finally, the fixed point number is mapped to the network parameters corresponding to each node. The hopping nodes are independently updated with the same hopping map at each hopping period, and the configuration of their own network parameters is updated, so that the updated graph can effectively prevent external attacks. Finally, we have carried out simulation experiments and related tests on the proposed scheme and demonstrated that the performance requirements of the random graphs can be satisfied in both general and extreme cases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

FIRE: A Finely Integrated Risk Evaluation Methodology for Life-Critical Embedded Systems

by

,

,

and

Information 2022, 13(10), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13100487 - 10 Oct 2022

Viewed by 1243

Abstract

Life-critical embedded systems, including medical devices, are becoming increasingly interconnected and interoperable, providing great efficiency to the healthcare ecosystem. These systems incorporate complex software that plays a significantly integrative and critical role. However, this complexity substantially increases the potential for cybersecurity threats, which [...] Read more.

Life-critical embedded systems, including medical devices, are becoming increasingly interconnected and interoperable, providing great efficiency to the healthcare ecosystem. These systems incorporate complex software that plays a significantly integrative and critical role. However, this complexity substantially increases the potential for cybersecurity threats, which directly impact patients’ safety and privacy. With software continuing to play a fundamental role in life-critical embedded systems, maintaining its trustworthiness by incorporating fail-safe modes via a multimodal design is essential. Comprehensive and proactive evaluation and management of cybersecurity risks are essential from the very design to deployment and long-term management. In this paper, we present FIRE, a finely integrated risk evaluation methodology for life-critical embedded systems. Security risks are carefully evaluated in a bottom-up approach from operations-to-system modes by adopting and expanding well-established vulnerability scoring schemes for life-critical systems, considering the impact to patient health and data sensitivity. FIRE combines a static risk evaluation with runtime dynamic risk evaluation to establish comprehensive risk management throughout the lifecycle of the life-critical embedded system. We demonstrate the details and effectiveness of our methodology in systematically evaluating risks and conditions for risk mitigation with a smart connected insulin pump case study. Under normal conditions and eight different malware threats, the experimental results demonstrate effective threat mitigation by mode switching with a 0% false-positive mode switching rate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Secure Sensitive Data Sharing Using RSA and ElGamal Cryptographic Algorithms with Hash Functions

by

,

,

,

and

Information 2022, 13(10), 442; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13100442 - 20 Sep 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1953

Abstract

With the explosion of connected devices linked to one another, the amount of transmitted data grows day by day, posing new problems in terms of information security, such as unauthorized access to users’ credentials and sensitive information. Therefore, this study employed RSA and [...] Read more.

With the explosion of connected devices linked to one another, the amount of transmitted data grows day by day, posing new problems in terms of information security, such as unauthorized access to users’ credentials and sensitive information. Therefore, this study employed RSA and ElGamal cryptographic algorithms with the application of SHA-256 for digital signature formulation to enhance security and validate the sharing of sensitive information. Security is increasingly becoming a complex task to achieve. The goal of this study is to be able to authenticate shared data with the application of the SHA-256 function to the cryptographic algorithms. The methodology employed involved the use of C# programming language for the implementation of the RSA and ElGamal cryptographic algorithms using the SHA-256 hash function for digital signature. The experimental result shows that the RSA algorithm performs better than the ElGamal during the encryption and signature verification processes, while ElGamal performs better than RSA during the decryption and signature generation process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

An Attribute-Based Approach toward a Secured Smart-Home IoT Access Control and a Comparison with a Role-Based Approach

by

Safwa Ameer

,

James Benson

and

Ravi Sandhu

Information 2022, 13(2), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13020060 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2885

Abstract

The area of smart homes is one of the most popular for deploying smart connected devices. One of the most vulnerable aspects of smart homes is access control. Recent advances in IoT have led to several access control models being developed or adapted [...] Read more.

The area of smart homes is one of the most popular for deploying smart connected devices. One of the most vulnerable aspects of smart homes is access control. Recent advances in IoT have led to several access control models being developed or adapted to IoT from other domains, with few specifically designed to meet the challenges of smart homes. Most of these models use role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC) models. As of now, it is not clear what the advantages and disadvantages of ABAC over RBAC are in general, and in the context of smart-home IoT in particular. In this paper, we introduce HABAC

_{α}

, an attribute-based access control model for smart-home IoT. We formally define

H A B A C_{α}

and demonstrate its features through two use-case scenarios and a proof-of-concept implementation. Furthermore, we present an analysis of

H A B A C_{α}

as compared to the previously published EGRBAC (extended generalized role-based access control) model for smart-home IoT by first describing approaches for constructing

H A B A C_{α}

specification from EGRBAC and vice versa in order to compare the theoretical expressiveness power of these models, and second, analyzing

H A B A C_{α}

and EGRBAC models against standard criteria for access control models. Our findings suggest that a hybrid model that combines both

H A B A C_{α}

and EGRBAC capabilities may be the most suitable for smart-home IoT, and probably more generally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

VERCASM-CPS: Vulnerability Analysis and Cyber Risk Assessment for Cyber-Physical Systems

by

,

,

,

and

Information 2021, 12(10), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12100408 - 30 Sep 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2805

Abstract

Since Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are widely used in critical infrastructures, it is essential to protect their assets from cyber attacks to increase the level of security, safety and trustworthiness, prevent failure developments, and minimize losses. It is necessary to analyze the CPS configuration [...] Read more.

Since Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are widely used in critical infrastructures, it is essential to protect their assets from cyber attacks to increase the level of security, safety and trustworthiness, prevent failure developments, and minimize losses. It is necessary to analyze the CPS configuration in an automatic mode to detect the most vulnerable CPS components and reconfigure or replace them promptly. In this paper, we present a methodology to determine the most secure CPS configuration by using a public database of cyber vulnerabilities to identify the most secure CPS components. We also integrate the CPS cyber risk analysis with a Controlled Moving Target Defense, which either replaces the vulnerable CPS components or re-configures the CPS to harden it, while the vulnerable components are being replaced. Our solution helps to design a more secure CPS by updating the configuration of existing CPS to make them more resilient against cyber attacks. In this paper, we will compare cyber risk scores for different CPS configurations and show that the Windows^® 10 build 20H2 operating system is more secure than Linux Ubuntu^® 20.04, while Red Hat^® Enterprise^® Linux is the most secure in some system configurations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

Leveraging Aviation Risk Models to Combat Cybersecurity Threats in Vehicular Networks

by

,

,

,

,

and

Information 2021, 12(10), 390; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12100390 - 23 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2033

Abstract

The rapidly developing technology and lack of standards in the transportation industry for the proposed Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) networks, which all vehicles will operate under, drives concern about information validity and authenticity due to the risk of erroneous or [...] Read more.

The rapidly developing technology and lack of standards in the transportation industry for the proposed Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) networks, which all vehicles will operate under, drives concern about information validity and authenticity due to the risk of erroneous or malicious information being injected into a vehicular network (VN). In this paper, we apply a risk management process to a vehicular network that will identify hazards and possible controls that can lower their risk. After researching and reviewing various technologies along with several risk models, we have developed a basic framework for assessing and assigning risk through a phased method that leads to input for our developed model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

Image Watermarking Approach Using a Hybrid Domain Based on Performance Parameter Analysis

by

,

,

,

and

Information 2021, 12(8), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12080310 - 30 Jul 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2004

Abstract

In today’s scenario, image watermarking has been an integral part in various multimedia applications. Watermarking is the approach for adding additional information to the existing image to protect the data from modification and to provide data integrity. Frequency transform domain techniques are complex [...] Read more.

In today’s scenario, image watermarking has been an integral part in various multimedia applications. Watermarking is the approach for adding additional information to the existing image to protect the data from modification and to provide data integrity. Frequency transform domain techniques are complex and costly and degrade the quality of the image due to less embedding of bits. The proposed work utilize the original DCT method with some modifications and applies this method on frequency bands of DWT. Furthermore, the output is used in combination with a pixel modification method for embedding and extraction. The proposed outcome is the improvement of performance achieved in terms of time, imperceptibility, and robustness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

Improving Physical Layer Security of Cooperative NOMA System with Wireless-Powered Full-Duplex Relaying

by

,

,

and

Information 2021, 12(7), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12070279 - 10 Jul 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2008

Abstract

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and wireless energy harvesting are two promising technologies for improving spectral efficiency and energy efficiency, respectively. In this paper, we study the physical layer security of a wireless-powered full-duplex (FD) relay-aided cooperative NOMA system. In particular, the source is [...] Read more.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and wireless energy harvesting are two promising technologies for improving spectral efficiency and energy efficiency, respectively. In this paper, we study the physical layer security of a wireless-powered full-duplex (FD) relay-aided cooperative NOMA system. In particular, the source is wiretapped by an eavesdropper, and the FD relay assists the transmission from the source to a near user and a far user with self-energy recycling. To enhance the security performance of the system, we propose an artificial noise (AN)-aided cooperative transmission scheme, in which the relay emits a jamming signal to confuse the eavesdropper while receiving the signal from the source. For the proposed scheme, the ergodic secrecy sum rate (ESSR) is derived to characterize the secrecy performance and a lower bound of ESSR is obtained. Finally, numerical results verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis of the proposed AN-aided secure transmission scheme. The superiority of the proposed scheme is also demonstrated since this scheme can achieve better secrecy performance, compared to the conventional cooperative NOMA scheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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Open AccessArticle

CFM-RFM: A Cascading Failure Model for Inter-Domain Routing Systems with the Recovery Feedback Mechanism

by

,

,

and

Information 2021, 12(6), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12060247 - 14 Jun 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1818

Abstract

With the increase and diversification of network users, the scale of the inter-domain routing system is becoming larger and larger. Cascading failure analysis and modeling are of great significance to improve the security of inter-domain routing networks. To solve the problem that the [...] Read more.

With the increase and diversification of network users, the scale of the inter-domain routing system is becoming larger and larger. Cascading failure analysis and modeling are of great significance to improve the security of inter-domain routing networks. To solve the problem that the propagation principle of cascading failure does not conform to reality, a Cascading Failure Model for inter-domain routing systems with the Recovery Feedback Mechanism (CFM-RFM) is proposed in this paper. CFM-RFM comprehensively considers the main factors that cause cascading failure. Based on two types of update message propagation mechanism and traffic redistribution, it simulates the cascading failure process. We found that under the action of the recovery feedback mechanism, the cascading failure process was accelerated, and the network did not quickly return to normal, but was rather quickly and extensively paralyzed. The average attack cost can be reduced by 38.1% when the network suffers the same damage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Secure and Trustworthy Cyber–Physical Systems)

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