CAREER: System Software Availability Foundations for Real-time Cyber-physical Systems

随着计算和通信在我们的社会中越来越深入，自动车辆和手术机器人等网络物理系统(CP)的安全性，特别是可获得性(及时获得计算资源)对我们的生计至关重要。该项目的主要创新之处在于采用了一种原则性的方法，通过系统地解决构成计算机系统的不同易受攻击层的威胁来解决CP的可用性挑战。该项目更广泛的意义和重要性在于为系统可用性开发新的理论和系统，为CPS的安全和安全奠定基础，CPS现在是我们的社会日常必需品所依赖的。该项目通过为K-12和高等教育中不同背景的学生开展综合教育活动，不仅扩大了对CPS安全领域的参与，而且还扩大了对计算机领域的参与。来自不同计算层对系统可用性的威胁推动了该项目的研究，推进了三条防线。第一道防线解决了可信执行环境中长期存在的可用性问题，以在不可信操作系统(OS)存在的情况下提供计算和输入/输出(I/O)可用性，同时通过利用实时CP的独特可预测性将可信计算基础降至最低。第二道防线通过利用上下文相关的软件分区和快速恢复来保护安全关键流程的可用性，以减少功能为代价，解决了软件保护中的一个新维度(可用性)。最后一道防线将性能干扰作为安全(可用性)问题进行正式化、分析和隔离，从而阻止从非安全关键流程到安全关键流程的攻击。CPS安全研究开放平台(OP-CPS)不仅允许在项目中进行科学探索，还将教育和研究紧密结合在一起，使实时、机器人、控制、系统和安全社区之间能够建立联系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As computing and communication are ever more embedded in our society, the security and, in particular, the availability (timely access to computational resources) of cyber-physical systems (CPS), such as autonomous vehicles and surgical robots, is essential for our livelihood. The key novelty of the project is a principled approach to tackle the availability challenges of CPS by systematically addressing threats from different vulnerable layers that make up a computer system. The project's broader significance and importance lie in the development of new theories and systems for system availability, building the foundation for security and safety in CPS, which our society now relies on for daily necessities. This project broadens participation not only in the field of CPS security but also in computing, through integrated educational activities for students from diverse backgrounds in both K-12 and higher education. Threats from different layers of computing against system availability motivate the research thrusts in this project, advancing three lines of defense. The first line of defense tackles the long-standing problem of availability in trusted execution environments to provide computational and input/output (I/O) availability in the presence of an untrusted operating system (OS) while minimizing the trusted computing base by leveraging the unique predictability of real-time CPS. The second line of defense tackles a new dimension (availability) in software protection by leveraging context-sensitive software compartmentalization and rapid recovery to preserve safety-critical process availability at the cost of functionality reduction. The last line of defense formalizes, analyzes, and isolates the performance interference as a security (availability) problem, thwarting attacks from the non-safety-critical processes to the safety-critical processes. The open platform (OP) for CPS security research (OP-CPS) not only allows scientific exploration within the project but also tightly integrates education and research, enabling the connections between the real-time, robotics, control, systems, and security communities.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.