I-Corps: Active fingerprinting security feature embedded in sensors of cyberphysical systems

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于开发一种网络安全范式，有望改善依赖物联网（IoT）设备进行日常运营的关键基础设施的网络安全状况。物联网革命通过提供前所未有的数据驱动的洞察力，大大提高了供应链的效率，但也揭示了网络威胁的阴暗面。对于采用者来说，该技术的关键价值是将赎金支付和系统停机造成的损失降到最低，这些损失对国民经济和公众对国家安全的信心有重大的下游影响。投资拟议中的技术，预计每年只需防止一次网络攻击，就能获得多重回报。在全国范围内采用该技术将使能源行业能够在不牺牲安全性的情况下利用物联网革命的好处。此外，拟议中的技术可能会将下一代技术带到最前沿，从而显著增强美国的能源弹性并扩大可再生能源。鉴于迫在眉睫的能源危机，推广此类技术在确保自给自足和保持对政府支持的对手的优势方面发挥着关键作用。I-Corps项目的基础是开发嵌入网络物理系统传感器的主动指纹安全功能，作为抵御内部威胁的最后一道防线，同时即使系统被黑客入侵，也能提供数据恢复的途径。它依赖于系统物理的固有冗余来存储系统运行历史的永久不可破坏的记录，如果系统受到损害，则可以交叉引用入侵检测和数据恢复。所提出的技术在设计时考虑了零影响和零可观察性条件，即实现必须不影响系统运行，并且对检查数据的第三方恶意代理保持隐蔽。这明显偏离了公开的安全措施，如加密和其他主动技术，这些措施可能是可见的，在系统上留下足迹和/或被人工智能（AI）逆向工程。相反，由于其零影响和零可观察性条件，所提出的技术不受人工智能的检测，即使是熟悉系统的内部人员也无法绕过，并且通过加密安全的一次性pad进一步增强。由于能够理解系统的物理特性，该技术的一个关键优点是能够使用物理特性立即恢复数据，而不需要额外的类似保险库的数据存储和备份机制，所有这些都会导致严重的停机时间。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a cybersecurity paradigm that is expected to improve the cybersecurity posture of critical infrastructure that rely on IoT (internet of things) devices for their day-to-day operations. The IoT revolution has significantly improved the efficiency of supply chains by providing unprecedent levels of data-driven insight but has opened up the dark side of cyberthreats. The key value of the proposed technology to adopters is minimized losses due to ransom payouts and system downtime that has significant downstream effects on the national economy and public confidence in national security. Investing in the proposed technology is expected to pay for itself multi-fold by preventing just one cyberattack each year. A nation-wide adoption of the technology would allow the energy industry to leverage the benefits of the IoT revolution without sacrificing security. In addition, the proposed technology may bring next-generation technologies to the forefront that can significantly reinforce the energy resiliency of the US and augment renewable sources. In light of the looming energy crisis, promoting such technologies plays a pivotal role in ensuring self-sufficiency and maintaining an edge against state-sponsored adversaries.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an active fingerprinting security feature embedded in sensors of cyberphysical systems that serves as a last line of defense against insider threats, while also providing an avenue for data recovery even if the system is hacked. It relies on the inherent redundancy of the physics of the system to store a permanent incorruptible record of the system's operational history, which may then be cross-referenced for both intrusion detection and data recovery if the system is compromised. The proposed technology is designed with zero-impact and zero-observability conditions in mind, i.e., the implementation must not affect the system operation and remain covert to a third-party malicious agent inspecting the data. This significantly deviates from overt security measures such as encryption and other active techniques, which may be visible, leave a footprint on the system and/or be reverse-engineered by artificial intelligence (AI). To the contrary, the proposed technology is rendered immune to detection by AI and cannot be bypassed even by insiders intimate with the system due to its zero-impact and zero-observability conditions, and is further enhanced by a cryptographically secure one-time-pad. Due to the ability to understand the physics of the system, a key merit of the prosed technology is its ability to recover data immediately using the physics itself without requiring additional vault-like data storage and backup mechanisms, all of which cause significant downtime.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.