Award Abstract # 1505633
Breakthrough: Collaborative: Secure Algorithms for Cyber-Physical Systems

NSF Org: CNS
Division Of Computer and Network Systems
Recipient: NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: July 13, 2015
Latest Amendment Date: July 13, 2015
Award Number: 1505633
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: David Corman
CNS
 Division Of Computer and Network Systems
CSE
 Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date: July 15, 2015
End Date: June 30, 2020 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $166,654.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $166,654.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2015 = $166,654.00
History of Investigator:
  • Mo-Yuen Chow (Principal Investigator)
    chow@ncsu.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: North Carolina State University
2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY
RALEIGH
NC  US  27695-0001
(919)515-2444
Sponsor Congressional District: 02
Primary Place of Performance: North Carolina State Univeristy
890 Oval Dr.
Raleigh
NC  US  27695-7911
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): U3NVH931QJJ3
Parent UEI: U3NVH931QJJ3
NSF Program(s): CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems,
Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace
Primary Program Source: 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 7434, 7918, 8225, 8234
Program Element Code(s): 791800, 806000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070

ABSTRACT

Modern systems such as the electric smart grid consist of both cyber and physical components that must work together; these are called cyber-physical systems, or CPS. Securing such systems goes beyond just cyber security or physical security into cyber-physical security. While the threats multiply within a CPS, physical aspects also can reduce the threat space. Unlike purely cyber systems, such as the internet, CPS are grounded in physical reality. In this project, this physical reality is used to limit an attacker's ability to disrupt the system by limiting his/her ability to lie about his/her actions; if an attacker is inconsistent with physical reality, his/her actions are detectable and damage his/her reputation for future interactions with the system. The impacts of this work are far-reaching, as it creates a basis for developing inherently security CPS for not only the electric smart grid, but also advanced transportation and building environmental systems. A new generation of interdisciplinary scientists and engineers are being trained through this research.

This project formulates a novel methodology that incorporates knowledge from both the cyber and physical domains into a distributed algorithm and ensures the trustworthiness, thus security, of the composed system. Metrics for security are also derived and rest on logical invariants that express correctness. The invariants either check the validity of a local action or the accuracy of remote data. They may be used as guards against an action, or may be incorporated into a dynamic reputation-based algorithm.

As a testbed, a multilateral energy system on an electrical network will be studied. Preliminary studies of this system have resulted in algorithms that isolate malicious nodes within the context of a single algorithm, using a reputation metric that compares cyber information flows to physically measurable signals. The work will be extended to other algorithms and other related power systems, a generalizable framework will be developed, and more complete metrics will be derived.

The project has important broader impact. It develops new approaches for securing critical infrastructure based on both and cyber and physical system aspects. The project also includes graduate and undergraduate involvement in cyber-physical systems research and design through involvement with testbeds and the Missouri Science and Technology Solar House team which designs and constructs houses for competition in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 29)
A. Thudimilla and B. McMillin "Multiple Security Domain Nondeducibility Air Traffic Surveillance Systems." 18th IEEE High Assurance Systems Engineering Conference. , 2017
An, Lu and Duan, Jie and Chow, Mo-Yuen and Duel-Hallen, Alexandra "A {Distributed} and {Resilient} {Bargaining} {Game} for {Weather}-{Predictive} {Microgrid} {Energy} {Cooperation}" IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics , v.15 , 2019 , p.4721--473 10.1109/TII.2019.2907380
Cheng, Z. and Duan, J. and Chow, M. "To {Centralize} or to {Distribute}: {That} {Is} the {Question}: {A} {Comparison} of {Advanced} {Microgrid} {Management} {Systems}" IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine , v.12 , 2018 , p.6--24 10.1109/MIE.2018.2789926
Cheng, Zheyuan and Chow, Mo-Yuen "Resilient {Collaborative} {Distributed} {Energy} {Management} {System} {Framework} for {Cyber}-physical {DC} {Microgrids}" IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid , 2020 , p.1--1 10.1109/TSG.2020.3001059
Duan, J. and Chow, M. "A {Novel} {Data} {Integrity} {Attack} on {Consensus}-{Based} {Distributed} {Energy} {Management} {Algorithm} {Using} {Local} {Information}" IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics , v.15 , 2019 , p.1544--155 10.1109/TII.2018.2851248
Duan, J. and Chow, M. "A {Resilient} {Consensus}-{Based} {Distributed} {Energy} {Management} {Algorithm} against {Data} {Integrity} {Attacks}" IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid , 2018 , p.1--1 10.1109/TSG.2018.2867106
Duan, J. and Zeng, W. and Chow, M. "Resilient {Distributed} {DC} {Optimal} {Power} {Flow} {Against} {Data} {Integrity} {Attack}" IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid , v.9 , 2018 , p.3543--355 10.1109/TSG.2016.2633943
Duan, Jie and Chow, Mo-Yuen "Robust {Consensus}-{Based} {Distributed} {Energy} {Management} for {Microgrids} {With} {Packet} {Losses} {Tolerance}" IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid , v.11 , 2020 , p.281--290 10.1109/TSG.2019.2921231
Fred Love and Bruce McMillin "Breaking Implicit Trust in Point-of-Care Medical Technology: A Cyber-Physical Attestation Approach" 4th IEEE International Workshop on Medical Computing (MediComp 2017) in the Computer Software and Applications Conference , 2017
Hu, Jian and Duan, Jie and Ma, Hao and Chow, Mo-Yuen "Distributed {Adaptive} {Droop} {Control} for {Optimal} {Power} {Dispatch} in {DC} {Microgrid}" IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics , v.65 , 2018 , p.778--789 10.1109/TIE.2017.2698425
J. Duan and M.-Y. Chow "A Novel Data Integrity Attack on Consensus-Based Distributed Energy Management Algorithm Using Local Information" IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics , v.15 , 2019 10.1109/TII.2018.2851248
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 29)

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

This project formulated a novel methodology for creating secure algorithms in cyberphysical systems (CPS) and developed metrics for evaluating the security of composed systems. A holistic cybersecurity framework that encompasses both cyber and physical layers is proposed to model the system dynamics, adversaries, and the cybersecurity of the smart grid CPS. Typical CPS control applications, e.g. energy management system (EMS), are investigated in this project. To protect the data integrity and therefore protect the secure operation of the smart grid, a novel reputation-based trust management system is developed to detect and mitigate the data integrity attacks. In addition to data integrity, two privacy-preserving algorithms are proposed to secure the data confidentiality of the CPS, i.e. obfuscation-based and homomorphic encryption-based algorithms. Finally, a distributed DC microgrid testbed and large scale distributed computing system are built and configured to validate the proposed secure algorithms. The research outcomes have been published on 20+ reputable journals and conference proceedings. The accumulative impact factors of the published journal papers have reached 80+ and potentially will reach 100+ by mid-2021. The research outcomes have also been presented at 10+ conferences, 5 distinguished IEEE IES lectures, and 10+ seminar/keynote presentations. The project tasks have been designed to master independent research and Ph.D. thesis topics. With the project funding, the PI has trained two Ph.D. students and 4 master students.

 


Last Modified: 09/18/2020
Modified by: Mo-Yuen Chow

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