CAREER: Securing Mobile Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) Against Stealthy Attacks

随着采用移动节点的网络物理系统（cps）不断融入物理世界，确保其安全性成为至关重要的目标。由于移动性、实时性、能源和安全方面的限制，再加上它们依赖于容易受到干扰和故意干扰的通信媒介，移动cps预计的复杂性将远远超过传统计算系统。这种复杂性的增加扩大了攻击者的恶意机会，并且许多组件一起交互，区分正常和异常行为变得相当具有挑战性。该项目的研究工作有两个主要方向：(1)识别隐形攻击；(2)开发防御机制。沿着第一个推动力，开发了一个统一的理论框架，以系统的方式发现攻击，对手通过解决马尔可夫决策过程问题来识别最优和次优攻击策略。通过不同的损害实例和成本指标来评估攻击的影响。沿着第二个推力，开发了新的随机化控制器和随机感知异常检测机制来预防、检测和减轻隐形攻击。CAREER项目的成果最终将为在机器人、自动驾驶汽车和智能交通系统领域建立更安全的系统提供具体的基础。教育活动——如课程开发和动手实验室体验——将为学生提供建立可靠和值得信赖的系统的基本技能，同时确保本科生、妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的参与。这些拓展活动将让高中生接触到计算机科学教育和科学研究。

As Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) employing mobile nodes continue to integrate into the physical world, ensuring their safety and security become crucial goals. Due to their mobility, real-time, energy and safety constraints, coupled by their reliance on communication mediums that are subject to interference and intentional jamming, the projected complexities in Mobile CPSs will far exceed those of traditional computing systems. Such increase in complexity widens the malicious opportunities for adversaries and with many components interacting together, distinguishing between normal and abnormal behaviors becomes quite challenging.The research work in this project falls along two main thrusts: (1) identifying stealthy attacks and (2) developing defense mechanisms. Along the first thrust, a unifying theoretical framework is developed to uncover attacks in a systematic manner whereby an adversary solves Markovian Decision Processes problems to identify optimal and suboptimal attack policies. The effects of the attacks are assessed through different instantiations of damage and cost metrics. Along the second thrust, novel randomization controllers and randomization-aware anomaly detection mechanisms are developed to prevent, detect and mitigate stealthy attacks.The outcomes of this CAREER project will ultimately provide concrete foundations to build more secure systems in the areas of robotics, autonomous vehicles, and intelligent transportation systems. The educational activities--as in curriculum development and hands-on laboratory experiences--will provide students with the essential skills to build dependable and trustworthy systems, while ensuring the participation of undergraduates, women and underrepresented minorities. The outreach activities will expose high school students to Computer Science education and scientific research.