58 research outputs found

    Developing an Effective Detection Framework for Targeted Ransomware Attacks in Brownfield Industrial Internet of Things

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    The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is being interconnected with many critical industrial activities, creating major cyber security concerns. The key concern is with edge systems of Brownfield IIoT, where new devices and technologies are deployed to interoperate with legacy industrial control systems and leverage the benefits of IoT. These edge devices, such as edge gateways, have opened the way to advanced attacks such as targeted ransomware. Various pre-existing security solutions can detect and mitigate such attacks but are often ineffective due to the heterogeneous nature of the IIoT devices and protocols and their interoperability demands. Consequently, developing new detection solutions is essential. The key challenges in developing detection solutions for targeted ransomware attacks in IIoT systems include 1) understanding attacks and their behaviour, 2) designing accurate IIoT system models to test attacks, 3) obtaining realistic data representing IIoT systems' activities and connectivities, and 4) identifying attacks. This thesis provides important contributions to the research focusing on investigating targeted ransomware attacks against IIoT edge systems and developing a new detection framework. The first contribution is developing the world's first example of ransomware, specifically targeting IIoT edge gateways. The experiments' results demonstrate that such an attack is now possible on edge gateways. Also, the kernel-related activity parameters appear to be significant indicators of the crypto-ransomware attacks' behaviour, much more so than for similar attacks in workstations. The second contribution is developing a new holistic end-to-end IIoT security testbed (i.e., Brown-IIoTbed) that can be easily reproduced and reconfigured to support new processes and security scenarios. The results prove that Brown-IIoTbed operates efficiently in terms of its functions and security testing. The third contribution is generating a first-of-its-kind dataset tailored for IIoT systems covering targeted ransomware attacks and their activities, called X-IIoTID. The dataset includes connectivity- and device-agnostic features collected from various data sources. The final contribution is developing a new asynchronous peer-to-peer federated deep learning framework tailored for IIoT edge gateways for detecting targeted ransomware attacks. The framework's effectiveness has been evaluated against pre-existing datasets and the newly developed X-IIoTID dataset

    Real-Time Sensor Networks and Systems for the Industrial IoT

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    The Industrial Internet of Things (Industrial IoT—IIoT) has emerged as the core construct behind the various cyber-physical systems constituting a principal dimension of the fourth Industrial Revolution. While initially born as the concept behind specific industrial applications of generic IoT technologies, for the optimization of operational efficiency in automation and control, it quickly enabled the achievement of the total convergence of Operational (OT) and Information Technologies (IT). The IIoT has now surpassed the traditional borders of automation and control functions in the process and manufacturing industry, shifting towards a wider domain of functions and industries, embraced under the dominant global initiatives and architectural frameworks of Industry 4.0 (or Industrie 4.0) in Germany, Industrial Internet in the US, Society 5.0 in Japan, and Made-in-China 2025 in China. As real-time embedded systems are quickly achieving ubiquity in everyday life and in industrial environments, and many processes already depend on real-time cyber-physical systems and embedded sensors, the integration of IoT with cognitive computing and real-time data exchange is essential for real-time analytics and realization of digital twins in smart environments and services under the various frameworks’ provisions. In this context, real-time sensor networks and systems for the Industrial IoT encompass multiple technologies and raise significant design, optimization, integration and exploitation challenges. The ten articles in this Special Issue describe advances in real-time sensor networks and systems that are significant enablers of the Industrial IoT paradigm. In the relevant landscape, the domain of wireless networking technologies is centrally positioned, as expected

    Deterministic ethernet in a safety critical environment

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    This thesis explores the concept of creating safety critical networks with low congestion and latency (known as critical networking) for real time critical communication (safety critical environment). Critical networking refers to the dynamic management of all the application demands in a network within all available network bandwidth, in order to avoid congestion. Critical networking removes traffic congestion and delay to provide quicker response times. A Deterministic Ethernet communication system in a Safety Critical environment addresses the disorderly Ethernet traffic condition inherent in all Ethernet networks. Safety Critical environment means both time critical (delay sensitive) and content critical (error free). Ethernet networks however do not operate in a deterministic fashion, giving rise to congestion. To discover the common traffic patterns that cause congestion a detailed analysis was carried out using neural network techniques. This analysis has investigated the issues associated with delay and congestion and identified their root cause, namely unknown transmission conditions. The congestion delay, and its removal, was explored in a simulated control environment in a small star network using the Air-field communication standard. A Deterministic Ethernet was created and implemented using a Network Traffic Oscillator (NTO). NTO uses Critical Networking principles to transform random burst application transmission impulses into deterministic sinusoid transmissions. It is proved that the NTO has the potential to remove congestion and minimise latency. Based on its potential, it is concluded that the proposed Deterministic Ethernet can be used to improve network security as well as control long haul communication

    Roadmap on signal processing for next generation measurement systems

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    Signal processing is a fundamental component of almost any sensor-enabled system, with a wide range of applications across different scientific disciplines. Time series data, images, and video sequences comprise representative forms of signals that can be enhanced and analysed for information extraction and quantification. The recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are shifting the research attention towards intelligent, data-driven, signal processing. This roadmap presents a critical overview of the state-of-the-art methods and applications aiming to highlight future challenges and research opportunities towards next generation measurement systems. It covers a broad spectrum of topics ranging from basic to industrial research, organized in concise thematic sections that reflect the trends and the impacts of current and future developments per research field. Furthermore, it offers guidance to researchers and funding agencies in identifying new prospects.AerodynamicsMicrowave Sensing, Signals & System

    Demystifying Internet of Things Security

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    Break down the misconceptions of the Internet of Things by examining the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms. This open access book reviews the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the SW stack leading up to defense-in-depth. The IoT presents unique challenges in implementing security and Intel has both CPU and Isolated Security Engine capabilities to simplify it. This book explores the challenges to secure these devices to make them immune to different threats originating from within and outside the network. The requirements and robustness rules to protect the assets vary greatly and there is no single blanket solution approach to implement security. Demystifying Internet of Things Security provides clarity to industry professionals and provides and overview of different security solutions What You'll Learn Secure devices, immunizing them against different threats originating from inside and outside the network Gather an overview of the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms Understand the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the software stack leading up to defense-in-depth Who This Book Is For Strategists, developers, architects, and managers in the embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) space trying to understand and implement the security in the IoT devices/platforms

    Smart Urban Water Networks

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    This book presents the paper form of the Special Issue (SI) on Smart Urban Water Networks. The number and topics of the papers in the SI confirm the growing interest of operators and researchers for the new paradigm of smart networks, as part of the more general smart city. The SI showed that digital information and communication technology (ICT), with the implementation of smart meters and other digital devices, can significantly improve the modelling and the management of urban water networks, contributing to a radical transformation of the traditional paradigm of water utilities. The paper collection in this SI includes different crucial topics such as the reliability, resilience, and performance of water networks, innovative demand management, and the novel challenge of real-time control and operation, along with their implications for cyber-security. The SI collected fourteen papers that provide a wide perspective of solutions, trends, and challenges in the contest of smart urban water networks. Some solutions have already been implemented in pilot sites (i.e., for water network partitioning, cyber-security, and water demand disaggregation and forecasting), while further investigations are required for other methods, e.g., the data-driven approaches for real time control. In all cases, a new deal between academia, industry, and governments must be embraced to start the new era of smart urban water systems

    Free piston expander with a variable built-in volume ratio and with an integrated linear alternator

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    Towards (R)evolving Cities Urban fragilities and prospects in the 21st century

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    Towards (R)evolving Cities: Urban Fragilities and Prospects in the 21st century first questions how we perceive the ‘intelligence’ of a city. The New Frontier of development for urban civilisations certainly includes digital and technological evolution, but it does not consider technology to be the final answer to all contemporary cities’ problems. The formidable challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown existing urban fragilities into stark relief. At the same time however they have highlighted the potential of digital solutions for reaching a new level of interconnected civility. (R)evolving cities evolve by adopting the principles of the circular economy in the higher interest of their citizens’ well-being: they consume therefore without devouring, recycle as much as possible what they metabolize, limit the effects of their ecological footprint and ultimately lead their inhabitants, with maternal guidance and care, to a new idea of citizenship. As protagonists of this evolutionary leap, the citizens of (R)evolving cities will abandon their predatory approach, reaching a higher stage of integration in the ecosystem and becoming more respectful of reciprocal relationships. (R)evolving cities are above all ‘polite’ cities, or rather cities whose citizens are consciously educated in the principles of sustainable development, the essential basis for contemporary civil coexistence
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