Security for systems where software controls physical processes: water treatment, power grids, robots. Attacks usually aim at a physical outcome (overflowing a tank, tripping a breaker), so defenders can monitor the physical process as well as the network.
Work at iTrust
- Orthogonal defence (Argus, the patent): monitor the plant independently of the control system you’re protecting.
- Command validation (PCAT): check what a PLC is about to tell an actuator before it happens.
- Ensembles of detectors (Super Detector).
- Exercises (CPX design): CISS, CIDEX, and NATO CCDCOE’s Locked Shields and Crossed Swords.
Most of this happened on the SWaT testbed.
Relevance to robots
A robot team is a mobile, networked cyber-physical system. See multi-robot systems and Byzantine fault tolerance.