Developing security measures against electromagnetic signal injection

企业、关键基础设施和最终用户面临的网络安全威胁正在增加。这些攻击主要有两种类型，软件和硬件。软件攻击通常通过互联网远程完成，但也可能是本地的，需要物理访问来连接恶意笔式驱动器。硬件攻击也可以在本地执行（通过篡改设备），但也可以远程执行。 除了最简单的远程硬件攻击外，其他所有攻击所构成的威胁往往被忽视。这方面的主要攻击媒介是电磁干扰，其中最简单和最知名的例子是干扰。一种更为复杂的方法是将信号注入传感器：许多关键计算机系统依赖其传感器数据来做出预测或决策（例如安全系统，工业控制设备，自动驾驶仪等）。大多数电子传感器的核心是将真实的世界效应转换为小电压，然后对电压进行精确测量（例如麦克风、摄像头、天线），这意味着它们固有地容易受到电磁干扰的影响，从而产生小电压。出于类似的原因，许多通信线路容易受到具有电磁干扰的数据注入的影响。该研究旨在调查电磁信号注入对上述关键应用中使用的各种系统的潜在攻击，研究其下游影响，并确定所需的对策。其中一部分是检查设备的工作原理，从理论上推导出什么电磁信号最有效，并进行真实的世界测试。在下游方面，该研究将研究软件处理和使用传感器测量的复杂方式，并了解篡改值如何导致潜在的灾难性结果。最后，在安全研究中，非常重要的是向制造商提供有关未来如何缓解硬件问题的建议，向消费者提供有关如何识别和升级受影响硬件的建议，以及向软件开发人员提供有关如何检测和安全处理恶意值的建议。该研究将集中在新设备（如电动和自动驾驶汽车，物联网设备），新的攻击方法，以及可以廉价和容易实施的新对策，以确保它们被迅速采用。有些工作可能与Armasuisse的研究部门合作进行，该项目属于EPSRC“信息和通信技术”研究领域的福尔斯。

Cyber security threats are increasing for businesses, critical infrastructure, and end users. The attacks come in two primary varieties, software and hardware. Software attacks are usually done remotely via the internet, but may be local, requiring physical access to connect a malicious pen drive. Hardware attacks are also performed locally (by tampering with equipment), however they may also be done remotely. The threats posed by all but the simplest remote hardware attacks are often overlooked. The primary attack vector for this is electromagnetic interference, the simplest and most well-known example of which is jamming. A significantly more sophisticated method is signal injection into sensors: many critical computer systems rely on their sensor data in order to make predictions or decisions (such as security systems, industrial control equipment, auto pilots, ...). At their core, most electronic sensors are converting real world effects into a small voltage, and then performing an accurate measurement of the voltage (e.g. microphones, cameras, antennas), which means they are inherently susceptible to electromagnetic interference inducing a small voltage. For similar reasons, many communication wires are susceptible to injection of data with electromagnetic interference. The research aims to investigate potential attacks by electromagnetic signal injection on a variety of systems used in the previously mentioned critical applications, studying their downstream effects, and determining the required countermeasures. Part of this is examining the operating principle of the device, to theoretically deduce what electromagnetic signal would be the most effective, and performing real world tests. On the downstream side, the research will examine the complex ways in which senor measurements are processed and used by software, and understanding how tampered values can lead to potentially disastrous outcomes. Finally, in security research it is very important to provide advice to manufacturers on how the hardware issues can be mitigated in the future, to consumers on how affected hardware can be identified and upgraded, and to software developers on how malicious values may be detected and safely handled. The research will focus on novel devices (such as electric and self-driving vehicles, IoT devices), on novel attack methods, and on novel countermeasures which can be implemented cheaply and easily, in order to ensure that they are swiftly adopted. Some of the work may be undertaken in collaboration with the research division of Armasuisse.This project falls within the EPSRC "Information and Communication Technologies" research area.