Horizon Europe
Young researcher network for security and resilience of critical cyber-physical systems
Project description
Training in security and resilience of cyber-physical systems
Control systems are essential for critical infrastructures such as electricity and transportation. As connectivity increases, so does the need for robust cybersecurity to counter sophisticated attacks. Yet current security measures often address cyber and physical aspects separately, overlooking their interconnection and resulting in limited effectiveness. Academic research, meanwhile, frequently fails to capture real-world industry challenges, with proposed solutions rarely validated in practice.
Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SecReSy4You project aims to strengthen the security and resilience of cyber-physical systems through a sustainable training programme for the next generation of innovators. It will combine specialised training with efforts to detect vulnerabilities in legacy systems and establish design requirements for future networked control systems.
Objective
Control systems are not only at the core of most engineering systems but also form the backbone of critical infrastructures, such as distribution systems for electricity and water, transportation networks, and mobile communications. The increasing network connectivity of control systems has highlighted the necessity for ensuring resilient and secure operation against cyber attacks, which have become increasingly sophisticated over the years and have often had severe repercussions. At the same time, by nature, control systems combine characteristics that render the provision of cybersecurity challenging.
Existing security mechanisms typically ignore the cyber-physical nature of networked control systems and either focus on the cyber or physical domain exclusively. Such narrow viewpoints not only impair any proposed security mechanisms but also result in limited models for underlying systems and attacks. Academic contributions are typically distant from practical industry challenges, simply resulting in an isolated view on the IT security properties of confidentiality, integrity, or availability (CIA), without providing comprehensive security solutions. Adding insult to injury, proposed security mechanisms are rarely validated via suitable testbeds or experiments in the field.
This DN intends to bridge the gap between theory and practice for secure and resilient cyber-physical systems by tackling the problem at its root. It brings together domain experts from control theory, computer science, and major industrial stakeholders to boost the security and resilience of control systems by outlining a sustainable program for training the next generation of innovators in this critical domain. It pursues a holistic approach that combines specialized training (in both academia and industry), while identifying challenging characteristics and security flaws in existing legacy systems, and pinpointing design requirements and solutions in future (networked) control systems.