6,146 research outputs found
Supporting Cyber-Physical Systems with Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook of Software and Services
Sensing, communication, computation and control technologies are the essential building blocks of a cyber-physical system (CPS). Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a way to support CPS as they provide fine-grained spatial-temporal sensing, communication and computation at a low premium of cost and power. In this article, we explore the fundamental concepts guiding the design and implementation of WSNs. We report the latest developments in WSN software and services for meeting existing requirements and newer demands; particularly in the areas of: operating system, simulator and emulator, programming abstraction, virtualization, IP-based communication and security, time and location, and network monitoring and management. We also reflect on the ongoing
efforts in providing dependable assurances for WSN-driven CPS. Finally, we report on its applicability with a case-study on smart buildings
Routing-Verification-as-a-Service (RVaaS): Trustworthy Routing Despite Insecure Providers
Computer networks today typically do not provide any mechanisms to the users
to learn, in a reliable manner, which paths have (and have not) been taken by
their packets. Rather, it seems inevitable that as soon as a packet leaves the
network card, the user is forced to trust the network provider to forward the
packets as expected or agreed upon. This can be undesirable, especially in the
light of today's trend toward more programmable networks: after a successful
cyber attack on the network management system or Software-Defined Network (SDN)
control plane, an adversary in principle has complete control over the network.
This paper presents a low-cost and efficient solution to detect misbehaviors
and ensure trustworthy routing over untrusted or insecure providers, in
particular providers whose management system or control plane has been
compromised (e.g., using a cyber attack). We propose
Routing-Verification-as-a-Service (RVaaS): RVaaS offers clients a flexible
interface to query information relevant to their traffic, while respecting the
autonomy of the network provider. RVaaS leverages key features of
OpenFlow-based SDNs to combine (passive and active) configuration monitoring,
logical data plane verification and actual in-band tests, in a novel manner
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Evaluating the resilience and security of boundaryless, evolving socio-technical Systems of Systems
ANCHOR: logically-centralized security for Software-Defined Networks
While the centralization of SDN brought advantages such as a faster pace of
innovation, it also disrupted some of the natural defenses of traditional
architectures against different threats. The literature on SDN has mostly been
concerned with the functional side, despite some specific works concerning
non-functional properties like 'security' or 'dependability'. Though addressing
the latter in an ad-hoc, piecemeal way, may work, it will most likely lead to
efficiency and effectiveness problems. We claim that the enforcement of
non-functional properties as a pillar of SDN robustness calls for a systemic
approach. As a general concept, we propose ANCHOR, a subsystem architecture
that promotes the logical centralization of non-functional properties. To show
the effectiveness of the concept, we focus on 'security' in this paper: we
identify the current security gaps in SDNs and we populate the architecture
middleware with the appropriate security mechanisms, in a global and consistent
manner. Essential security mechanisms provided by anchor include reliable
entropy and resilient pseudo-random generators, and protocols for secure
registration and association of SDN devices. We claim and justify in the paper
that centralizing such mechanisms is key for their effectiveness, by allowing
us to: define and enforce global policies for those properties; reduce the
complexity of controllers and forwarding devices; ensure higher levels of
robustness for critical services; foster interoperability of the non-functional
property enforcement mechanisms; and promote the security and resilience of the
architecture itself. We discuss design and implementation aspects, and we prove
and evaluate our algorithms and mechanisms, including the formalisation of the
main protocols and the verification of their core security properties using the
Tamarin prover.Comment: 42 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 5 algorithms, 139 reference
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