A data quarantine model to secure data in edge computing

Edge computing provides an agile data processing platform for latency-sensitive and communication-intensive applications through a decentralized cloud and geographically distributed edge nodes. Gaining centralized control over the edge nodes can be challenging due to security issues and threats. Among several security issues, data integrity attacks can lead to inconsistent data and intrude edge data analytics. Further intensification of the attack makes it challenging to mitigate and identify the root cause. Therefore, this paper proposes a new concept of data quarantine model to mitigate data integrity attacks by quarantining intruders. The efficient security solutions in cloud, ad-hoc networks, and computer systems using quarantine have motivated adopting it in edge computing. The data acquisition edge nodes identify the intruders and quarantine all the suspected devices through dimensionality reduction. During quarantine, the proposed concept builds the reputation scores to determine the falsely identified legitimate devices and sanitize their affected data to regain data integrity. As a preliminary investigation, this work identifies an appropriate machine learning method, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), for dimensionality reduction. The LDA results in 72.83% quarantine accuracy and 0.9 seconds training time, which is efficient than other state-of-the-art methods. In future, this would be implemented and validated with ground truth data

Development of the future generation of smart high voltage connectors and related components for substations, with energy autonomy and wireless data transmission capability

The increased dependency on electricity of modern society, makes reliability of power transmission systems a key point. This goal can be achieved by continuously monitoring power grid parameters, so possible failure modes can be predicted beforehand. It can be done using existing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Internet of Things (10T) technologies that include instrumentation and wireless communication systems, thus forming a wireless sensor network (WSN). Electrical connectors are among the most critical parts of any electrical system and hence, they can act as nodes of such WSN. Therefore, the fundamental objective of this thesis is the design, development and experimental validation of a self-powered IOT solution for real-time monitoring of the health status of a high-voltage substation connector and related components of the electrical substation. This new family of power connectors is called SmartConnector and incorporates a thermal energy harvesting system powering a microcontroller that controls a transmitter and several electronic sensors to measure the temperature, current and the electrical contact resistance (ECR) of the connector. These measurements are sent remotely via a Bluetooth 5 wireless communication module to a local gateway, which further transfers the measured data to a database server for storage as well as further analysis and visualization. By this way, after suitable data processing, the health status of the connector can be available in real-time, allowing different appealing functions, such as assessing the correct installation of the connector, the current health status or its remaining useful life (RUL) in real-time. The same principal can also be used for other components of substation like spacers, insulators, conductors, etc. Hence, to prove universality of this novel approach, a similar strategy is applied to a spacer which is capable of measuring uneven current distribution in three closely placed conductors. This novel IOT device is called as SmartSpacer. Care has to be taken that this technical and scientific development has to be compatible with existing substation bus bars and conductors, and especially to be compatible with the high operating voltages, i.e., from tens to hundreds of kilo-Volts (kV), and with currents in the order of some kilo-pm peres (kA). Although some electrical utilities and manufacturers have progressed in the development of such technologies, including smart meters and smart sensors, electrical device manufacturers such as of substation connectors manufacturers have not yet undertaken the technological advancement required for the development of such a new family of smart components involved in power transmission, which are designed to meet the future needs.La mayor dependencia de la electricidad de la sociedad moderna hace que la fiabilidad de los sistemas de transmisión de energía sea un punto clave. Este objetivo se puede lograr mediante la supervisión continua de los parámetros de la red eléctrica, por lo que los posibles modos de fallo se pueden predecir de antemano. Se puede hacer utilizando las tecnologías existentes de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (1CT) e Internet de las cosas (lo T) que incluyen sistemas de instrumentación y comunicación inalámbrica, formando así una red de sensores inalámbricos (WSN). Los conectores eléctricos se encuentran entre las partes más críticas de cualquier sistema eléctrico y, por lo tanto, pueden actuar como nodos de dicho VVSN. Por lo tanto, el objetivo fundamental de esta tesis es el diseño, desarrollo y validación experimental de una solución IOT autoalimentada para la supervisión en tiempo real del estado de salud de un conector de subestación de alta tensión y componentes relacionados de la subestación eléctrica. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia del contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia al contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. De esta manera, después del procesamiento de datos adecuado, el estado de salud del conector puede estar disponible en tiempo real, permitiendo diferentes funciones atractivas, como evaluar la correcta instalación del conector, el estado de salud actual o su vida útil restante (RUL) en tiempo real. El mismo principio también se puede utilizar para otros componentes de la subestación como espaciadores, aislantes, conductores, etc. Por lo tanto, para demostrar la universalidad de este enfoque novedoso, se aplica una estrategia similar a un espaciador, que es capaz de medir la distribución de corriente desigual en tres conductores estrechamente situados. Hay que tener cuidado de que este desarrollo técnico y científico tenga que sea compatible con las barras y "busbars" de subestación existentes, y sobre todo para ser compatible con las altas tensiones de funcionamiento, es decir, de decenas a cientos de kilovoltios (kV), y con corrientes en el orden de algunos kilo-Amperes (kA). Aunque algunas empresas eléctricas y fabricantes han progresado en el desarrollo de este tipo de tecnologías, incluidos medidores inteligentes y sensores inteligentes, los fabricantes de dispositivos eléctricos, como los fabricantes de conectores de subestación, aún no han emprendido el avance tecnológico necesario para el desarrollo de una nueva familia de componentes intel

Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructures

This book contains the manuscripts that were accepted for publication in the MDPI Special Topic "Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure" after a rigorous peer-review process. Authors from academia, government and industry contributed their innovative solutions, consistent with the interdisciplinary nature of cybersecurity. The book contains 16 articles: an editorial explaining current challenges, innovative solutions, real-world experiences including critical infrastructure, 15 original papers that present state-of-the-art innovative solutions to attacks on critical systems, and a review of cloud, edge computing, and fog's security and privacy issues

A survey on secure data analytics in edge computing

Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining increasing popularity. Overwhelming volumes of data are generated by IoT devices. Those data after analytics provide significant information that could greatly benefit IoT applications. Different from traditional applications, IoT applications, such as environmental monitoring, smart navigation, and smart healthcare come with new requirements, such as mobility, real-time response, and location awareness. However, traditional cloud computing paradigm cannot satisfy these demands due to centralized processing and being far away from local devices. Hence, edge computing was introduced to perform data processing and storage in the edge of networks, which is closer to data sources than cloud computing, thus efficient and location-aware. Unfortunately, edge computing brings new security and privacy challenges when applied to data analytics. The literature still lacks a thorough review on the recent advances in secure data analytics in edge computing. In this paper, we first introduce the concept and features of edge computing, and then propose a number of requirements for its secure data analytics by analyzing potential security threats in edge computing. Furthermore, we give a comprehensive review on the pros and cons of the existing works on data analytics in edge computing based on our proposed requirements. Based on our literature survey, we highlight current open issues and propose future research directions.Peer reviewe