Log-based Anomaly Detection of CPS Using a Statistical Method

Detecting anomalies of a cyber physical system (CPS), which is a complex system consisting of both physical and software parts, is important because a CPS often operates autonomously in an unpredictable environment. However, because of the ever-changing nature and lack of a precise model for a CPS, detecting anomalies is still a challenging task. To address this problem, we propose applying an outlier detection method to a CPS log. By using a log obtained from an actual aquarium management system, we evaluated the effectiveness of our proposed method by analyzing outliers that it detected. By investigating the outliers with the developer of the system, we confirmed that some outliers indicate actual faults in the system. For example, our method detected failures of mutual exclusion in the control system that were unknown to the developer. Our method also detected transient losses of functionalities and unexpected reboots. On the other hand, our method did not detect anomalies that were too many and similar. In addition, our method reported rare but unproblematic concurrent combinations of operations as anomalies. Thus, our approach is effective at finding anomalies, but there is still room for improvement

Artificial intelligence in the cyber domain: Offense and defense

Artificial intelligence techniques have grown rapidly in recent years, and their applications in practice can be seen in many fields, ranging from facial recognition to image analysis. In the cybersecurity domain, AI-based techniques can provide better cyber defense tools and help adversaries improve methods of attack. However, malicious actors are aware of the new prospects too and will probably attempt to use them for nefarious purposes. This survey paper aims at providing an overview of how artificial intelligence can be used in the context of cybersecurity in both offense and defense.Web of Science123art. no. 41