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

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种网络安全范式，预计将改善依赖物联网（物联网）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洞察力，显著提高了供应链的效率，但也暴露了网络威胁的黑暗面。拟议技术对采用者的关键价值是最大限度地减少赎金支付和系统停机造成的损失，这对国民经济和公众对国家安全的信心产生了重大的下游影响。投资于拟议的技术预计将通过每年防止一次网络攻击而获得多倍的回报。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，可以显著增强美国的能源弹性并增加可再生能源。在能源危机日益迫近的情况下，推广这些技术在确保自给自足和保持对国家支持的对手的优势方面发挥着关键作用。I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种嵌入网络物理系统传感器的主动指纹识别安全功能，作为抵御内部威胁的最后一道防线，同时也提供了一种即使系统被黑客入侵也能恢复数据的途径。 它依赖于系统物理的固有冗余来存储系统操作历史的永久不可破坏的记录，如果系统受到损害，则可以交叉引用用于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测性条件，即，该实现必须不影响系统操作并且对于检查数据的第三方恶意代理保持隐蔽。这大大偏离了公开的安全措施，例如加密和其他主动技术，这些技术可能是可见的，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，所提出的技术对人工智能的检测具有免疫力，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密码本进一步增强。由于能够理解系统的物理特性，prosed技术的一个关键优点是能够使用物理特性本身立即恢复数据，而不需要额外的类似保险库的数据存储和备份机制，该奖项反映了NSF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.