SMU-DDI Cyber Autonomy Range

Abstract

The Southern Methodist University-Darwin Deason Institute for Cybersecurity (SMU-DDI) Cyber Autonomy Range (CAR) addresses the incorporation of increased resiliency, reliability, and cyber security of the autonomous systems (AS) cyberinfrastructure; an issue with widespread concern and broad impact on society. The advances of data science and Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (ML/AI) methods coupled with their integration into autonomous subsystems is an enabling trend that supports AS maturity. Likewise, these same aspects of ML/AI present entirely new aspects of cyber security, many of which have only been analyzed in a preliminary sense or for special cases. The ML/AI aspects of cyber security are critically important, with significant ramifications in human safety and well-being. The CAR is a collaborative facility that supports the assessment of AS when faced with cyber threats by assessing their attack surface, vulnerability, and their degree of resistance to such threats. It is instrumented to simulate and/or emulate the external environment of an AS and can subject the AS to a variety of controlled cyber-attacks. Because the decision-making capabilities of many AS are based upon data-driven ML/AI-enabled technologies, the threat surface surrounding ML/AI subsystems is of particular concern. The CAR is especially configured to investigate and simulate (or emulate) cyber-attacks on ML/AI-equipped subsystems; particularly ML/AI subsystems that depend upon data sources derived from sensor suites or other data sources.