| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 16, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 21, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1545050 |
| 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: | September 15, 2015 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $169,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $194,799.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $24,800.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
300 W. 12TH STREET ROLLA MO US 65409-1330 (573)341-4134 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
500 West 15th St Rolla MO US 65409-6506 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun, CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Strategic decision-making for physical-world infrastructures is rapidly transitioning toward a pervasively cyber-enabled paradigm, in which human stakeholders and automation leverage the cyber-infrastructure at large (including on-line data sources, cloud computing, and handheld devices). This changing paradigm is leading to tight coupling of the cyber- infrastructure with multiple physical- world infrastructures, including air transportation and electric power systems. These management-coupled cyber- and physical- infrastructures (MCCPIs) are subject to complex threats from natural and sentient adversaries, which can enact complex propagative impacts across networked physical-, cyber-, and human elements.
We propose here to develop a modeling framework and tool suite for threat assessment for MCCPIs. The proposed modeling framework for MCCPIs has three aspects: 1) a tractable moment-linear modeling paradigm for the hybrid, stochastic, and multi-layer dynamics of MCCPIs; 2) models for sentient and natural adversaries, that capture their measurement and actuation capabilities in the cyber- and physical- worlds, intelligence, and trust-level; and 3) formal definitions for information security and vulnerability. The attendant tool suite will provide situational awareness of the propagative impacts of threats. Specifically, three functionalities termed Target, Feature, and Defend will be developed, which exploit topological characteristics of an MCCPI to evaluate and mitigate threat impacts. We will then pursue analyses that tie special infrastructure-network features to security/vulnerability. As a central case study, the framework and tools will be used for threat assessment and risk analysis of strategic air traffic management. Three canonical types of threats will be addressed: environmental-to-physical threats, cyber-physical co-threats, and human-in-the-loop threats. This case study will include development and deployment of software decision aids for managing man-made disturbances to the air traffic system.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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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.
The objectives of this multi-university collaborative project were to develop innovative models, frameworks and tools for assessing threats in interdependent cyber-physical systems (CPS) with human in the loop. Specific goals include: (1) threat modeling in CPS networks; (2) developing trust models for secure decision making when attacked by adversaries; and (3) designing effective strategies for threat mitigation. The proposed models and tools were applied to securing different network infrastructures aim to reduce failures and threat propagation in cyber-physical-human systems. The underlying CPS and internet of things (loT) infrastructure consist of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks, and mobile crowd sensing (MCS) platforms.
WSNs, drones or UAVs, and opportunistic networks that form important communication networks of CPS and loT infrastructure, are often vulnerable to different kinds of attacks (e.g., jamming, intrusions, integrity, consensus, and denial of service). Novel frameworks and solutions were developed to protect against jamming attacks in WSNs, consensus attacks in UAV networks, and localization errors in drones. Additionally, innovative trust models and frameworks were also designed for secure decision making in CPS and loT networks against data integrity (false data injection, evasion and badmouthing) attacks. The novelty lies in a newly defined information-theoretic metric composed of harmonic mean to arithmetic mean ratio of time series data, providing a stable invariant under various attacks. The proposed framework resulted in efficient and light weight anomaly detection schemes applicable to multiple (interdependent) CPS and IoT networks with applications to smart energy and smart transportation systems, and smart cities. Finally, MCS services often generate false reports due to malicious and selfish intents of users, thus impacting trustworthiness and reliability of CPS applications. Based on trust scores and incentives of users and their loT devices, a novel reputation framework was developed to classify genuine and malicious behaviors with high degree of accuracy and fewer false alarms. This method was effectively applied to vehicular CPS domain.
The broader impacts of the project include numerous high quality publications in top tier journals and peer-reviewed conferences; training and mentoring Ph.D. and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers; publication of a book on ?Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems: An Interdisciplinary Approach?; developing courses on ?Fundamentals of CPS? and ?Advances in CPS?; a patent non-disclosure application; organization of a workshop on Big Data and IoT Security; and establishing successful international collaborations with Italy and Japan leading to funded projects, joint publications, as well as visit exchanges by students and researchers.
Last Modified: 12/29/2020
Modified by: Sajal K Das
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