3 research outputs found
Securing critical utility systems & network infrastructures
Tese de mestrado, Segurança InformĂĄtica, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiĂȘncias, 2009As infra-estruturas crĂticas de TI para serviços pĂșblicos sĂŁo apoiadas por inĂșmeros sistemas complexos. Estes sistemas permitem a gestĂŁo e recolha de informação em tempo-real, constituindo a base para a gestĂŁo eficiente das operaçÔes. A utilização, cada vez mais frequente, de software e hardware (Commercial Off-The-Shelf, COTS) em sistemas SCADA permitiu grandes beneficios financeiros na aquisição e desenvolvimento de soluçÔes tĂ©cnicas que suportam os serviços pĂșblicos. O uso de hardware e software COTS em sistemas SCADA transferiu para as infra-estruturas crĂticas os problemas de segurança de uma infraestrutura de TI empresarial. Neste contexto, um desafio para as equipas de gestĂŁo operacional dos sistemas de TI Ă© a gestĂŁo eficaz dos sistemas e redes que compĂ”em as infra-estruturas crĂticas dos serviços pĂșblicos. Apesar de estas organizaçÔes adoptarem, cada vez mais, normas e melhores prĂĄticas que visam melhorar a gestĂŁo, operaçÔes e processos de configuração. Este projecto de investigação propĂ”e-se a desenvolver um estudo comparativo de plataformas de gestĂŁo integrada no contexto dos sistemas SCADA que suportam serviços pĂșblicos. Adicionalmente, este projecto de investigação irĂĄ desenvolver estudos acerca de perfis operacionais dos Sistemas Operativos que suportam a infra-estrutura IT dos serviços pĂșblicos crĂticos. Este projecto de investigação irĂĄ descrever como as decisĂ”es estratĂ©gicas de gestĂŁo tĂȘm impacto nas operaçÔes de gestĂŁo de uma infra-estrutura TI.Modern critical utility IT infrastructures are supported by numerous complex systems. These systems allow real-time management and information collection, which is the basis of efficient service management operations. The usage of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software in SCADA systems allowed for major financial advantages in purchasing and developing technical solutions. On the other hand, this COTS hardware and software generalized usage in SCADA systems, exposed critical infrastructures to the security problems of a corporate IT infrastructure. A significant challenge for IT teams is managing critical utility IT infrastructures even upon adopting security best practices that help management, operations and configuration of the systems and network components that comprise those infrastructures. This research project proposes to survey integrated management software that can address the specific security constraints of a SCADA infrastructure supported by COTS software. Additionally, this research project proposes to investigate techniques that will allow the creation of operational profiles of Operating Systems supporting critical utility IT infrastructures. This research project will describe how the strategic management decisions impact tactical operations management of an IT environment. We will investigate desirable technical management elements in support of the operational management
Increasing the robustness of networked systems
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-143).What popular news do you recall about networked systems? You've probably heard about the several hour failure at Amazon's computing utility that knocked down many startups for several hours, or the attacks that forced the Estonian government web-sites to be inaccessible for several days, or you may have observed inexplicably slow responses or errors from your favorite web site. Needless to say, keeping networked systems robust to attacks and failures is an increasingly significant problem. Why is it hard to keep networked systems robust? We believe that uncontrollable inputs and complex dependencies are the two main reasons. The owner of a web-site has little control on when users arrive; the operator of an ISP has little say in when a fiber gets cut; and the administrator of a campus network is unlikely to know exactly which switches or file-servers may be causing a user's sluggish performance. Despite unpredictable or malicious inputs and complex dependencies we would like a network to self-manage itself, i.e., diagnose its own faults and continue to maintain good performance. This dissertation presents a generic approach to harden networked systems by distinguishing between two scenarios. For systems that need to respond rapidly to unpredictable inputs, we design online solutions that re-optimize resource allocation as inputs change. For systems that need to diagnose the root cause of a problem in the presence of complex subsystem dependencies, we devise techniques to infer these dependencies from packet traces and build functional representations that facilitate reasoning about the most likely causes for faults. We present a few solutions, as examples of this approach, that tackle an important class of network failures. Specifically, we address (1) re-routing traffic around congestion when traffic spikes or links fail in internet service provider networks, (2) protecting websites from denial of service attacks that mimic legitimate users and (3) diagnosing causes of performance problems in enterprises and campus-wide networks. Through a combination of implementations, simulations and deployments, we show that our solutions advance the state-of-the-art.by Srikanth Kandula.Ph.D
Recommended from our members
Performance evaluation of information and communications technology infrastructure for smart distribution network applications
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Current electrical networks require secure, scalable and cost-effective Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) solutions to facilitate the novel functionalities
required by Smart Grids. Countries around the globe are investigating alternative energy sources to mitigate the current energy crisis and environmental issues experienced by many countries due to global warming, rapid growth of population, inefficient energy management, dwindling fossil fuel resources, etc. Therefore, alternative or renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, hydro, combined heat and power, etc., are required to mitigate such a crisis and such sources will also need to be integrated in to the power grid
in a distributed manner. Such distributed energy sources are mainly connected to the
distribution networks and introduce huge challenges to the distribution network operator (DNO). Many of these challenges cannot be dealt with effectively using existing network operation mechanisms therefore the research and development of novel ICT solutions to support smart distribution network operation is required.
This research investigated suitable ICT solutions to enable the Smart Grid to tackle these challenges and proposes ICT infrastructure models that can be used for simulation studies in order to investigate cost-effective, scalable and secure solutions for the DNOs. Initially, a Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring test-bed was proposed to evaluate the performance of bandwidth intensive applications, such as smart meter data transmission. Simulation studies for different communication technologies, cellular and Power Line
Communication (PLC), were also carried out and the simulation models were verified
using experimental test results. Finally, the modelling and analysis of smart metering
infrastructure was carried out using simulation and extensive studies were performed to evaluate the data transmission rate performance for different configurations of smart meters and concentrators