Cyber Engineering Research Articles

Evolving Access Control Paradigms: A Comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Security Risks and System Assurance in Cyber Engineering

This study evaluates the effectiveness of traditional access control paradigms—Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)—against ransomware threats in critical infrastructures and examines the potential benefits of integrating machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Utilizing a quantitative research design, the investigation collected data from 383 cybersecurity professionals across various sectors through a systematically structured questionnaire. The questionnaire, which demonstrated excellent internal consistency with a reliability score of 0.81, featured Likert scale questions aimed at assessing perceptions and experiences concerning the efficacy of different access control models in combating ransomware. Employing multiple regression analysis, the study explored the relationship between access control paradigms and their capability to mitigate ransomware risks, while also considering the impact of cybersecurity awareness among employees. The findings indicate that traditional access control methods are less effective against the dynamic nature of ransomware attacks, primarily due to their static configurations. In contrast, the integration of ML and AI into access control systems significantly enhances their adaptability and effectiveness in detecting and preventing ransomware incidents. Additionally, the study highlights the crucial role of cybersecurity awareness and training among employees in fortifying critical infrastructures against cyber threats. The adoption of a layered security strategy, incorporating advanced technological solutions and comprehensive cybersecurity practices, was found to markedly improve the resilience of critical infrastructures against ransomware attacks. Based on these insights, the study recommends the embrace of ML and AI technologies in access control systems, the prioritization of cybersecurity training for all organizational members, and the implementation of a multifaceted security approach to better defend against the evolving threat of ransomware. These strategies are essential for safeguarding the continuity and reliability of essential services in an increasingly digital and interconnected world.

Secure Cyber Engineering for IoT-Enabled Smart Healthcare System

Secure Cyber Engineering for IoT-Enabled Smart Healthcare System

Evolving Access Control Paradigms: A Comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Security Risks and System Assurance in Cyber Engineering

Evolving Access Control Paradigms: A Comprehensive Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Security Risks and System Assurance in Cyber Engineering

Neurophysiological and emotional influences on team communication and metacognitive cyber situational awareness during a cyber engineering exercise.

Background: Cyber operations unfold at superhuman speeds where cyber defense decisions are based on human-to-human communication aiming to achieve a shared cyber situational awareness. The recently proposed Orient, Locate, Bridge (OLB) model suggests a three-phase metacognitive approach for successful communication of cyber situational awareness for good cyber defense decision-making. Successful OLB execution implies applying cognitive control to coordinate self-referential and externally directed cognitive processes. In the brain, this is dependent on the frontoparietal control network and its connectivity to the default mode network. Emotional reactions may increase default mode network activity and reduce attention allocation to analytical processes resulting in sub-optimal decision-making. Vagal tone is an indicator of activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal node of the frontoparietal control network and is associated with functional connectivity between the frontoparietal control network and the default mode network. Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess whether indicators of neural activity relevant to the processes outlined by the OLB model were related to outcomes hypothesized by the model. Methods: Cyber cadets (N = 36) enrolled in a 3-day cyber engineering exercise organized by the Norwegian Defense Cyber Academy participated in the study. Differences in prospective metacognitive judgments of cyber situational awareness, communication demands, and mood were compared between cyber cadets with high and low vagal tone. Vagal tone was measured at rest prior to the exercise. Affective states, communication demands, cyber situational awareness, and metacognitive accuracy were measured on each day of the exercise. Results: We found that cyber cadets with higher vagal tone had better metacognitive judgments of cyber situational awareness, imposed fewer communication demands on their teams, and had more neutral moods compared to cyber cadets with lower vagal tone. Conclusion: These findings provide neuroergonomic support for the OLB model and suggest that it may be useful in education and training. Future studies should assess the effect of OLB-ing as an intervention on communication and performance.

First Laboratory Experience for Cyber Engineering and Cybersecurity Students

First Laboratory Experience for Cyber Engineering and Cybersecurity Students

Data-driven smart control of injection molding process

The most widely used cyclic manufacturing process to produce plastic components, injection molding produces large quantities of scrap materials and consumes resources to mitigate the increasing demands for quality products and sophisticated shapes. Such inefficiencies require a smart quality-control system that can bring consistency in the product quality. Continuous monitoring and control of the injection molding are of excessive importance in providing a better understanding of the occurrence of the failures and their correction measures. In the presented paper, a cyber engineering analysis model is developed to illustrate the real injection molding behavior, and multiple experiments are performed to derive the process window for the product with very good quality. To detect the process disturbances, a control boundary with threshold limits of cavity temperature and pressure is established. If-then rule based control algorithm is derived to detect the failures and make the compensatory adjustments to the process parameters. Finally, the proposed method is illustrated with the manufacturing of an automotive product i.e. car door trim module, and its validity is verified. Study results after the introduction of the developed quality control methodology indicate the dramatic reduction in the quality failure rates and the wastages of resources.

Engineering Assurance at the Undergraduate Level

What would it take for undergraduate computer engineering and computer science programs to routinely produce graduates who can design computer systems that are assured to operate securely? To help answer that question, Syracuse University piloted the undergraduate Cyber Engineering Semester, which aimed to equip undergraduates with three key capabilities. The first was the ability to reason rigorously about security concepts of operations (ConOps). The second was the ability to employ security mechanisms as exemplified by Jerome Saltzer and Michael Schroeder's classic paper, "The Protection of Information in Computer Systems." The third was the ability to formally verify security ConOps and mechanisms using computer-assisted reasoning tools.

Emerging interdisciplinary fields in the coming intelligence/convergence era

Abstract Dramatic advances are in the horizon resulting from rapid pace of development of several technologies, including, computing, communication, mobile, robotic, and interactive technologies. These advances, along with the trend towards convergence of traditional engineering disciplines with physical, life and other science disciplines will result in the development of new interdisciplinary fields, as well as in new paradigms for engineering practice in the coming intelligence/convergence era (post-information age). The interdisciplinary fields include Cyber Engineering, Living Systems Engineering, Biomechatronics/Robotics Engineering, Knowledge Engineering, Emergent/Complexity Engineering, and Multiscale Systems engineering. The paper identifies some of the characteristics of the intelligence/convergence era, gives broad definition of convergence, describes some of the emerging interdisciplinary fields, and lists some of the academic and other organizations working in these disciplines. The need is described for establishing a Hierarchical Cyber-Physical Ecosystem for facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations, and accelerating development of skilled workforce in the new fields. The major components of the ecosystem are listed. The new interdisciplinary fields will yield critical advances in engineering practice, and help in addressing future challenges in broad array of sectors, from manufacturing to energy, transportation, climate, and healthcare. They will also enable building large future complex adaptive systems-of-systems, such as intelligent multimodal transportation systems, optimized multi-energy systems, intelligent disaster prevention systems, and smart cities.

Purpose-Based Information Flow Control for Cyber Engineering

Cyber engineering is getting more significant in not only manufacturing but also business applications. Information management technologies play a key role in cyber engineering. In order to realize the cyber engineering, objects in information systems are required to be not only secure but also consistent in the presence of security threats and multiple conflicting transactions. There are so far many discussions on each of the security management and concurrence control. However, there is no discussion on synchronization mechanisms to realize both of them. In this paper, we discuss a novel synchronization protocol to make an information system not only secure but also consistent. In the role-based access control model, authorized access requests are specified in roles which are collections of access rights. A transaction issued by a subject is assigned with a subfamily of the roles granted to the subjects, which are named purpose. We first define legal information flow relations among purposes. Based on the legal information flow relations, we discuss a purpose-marking (PM) protocol to prevent illegal information flow to occur by performing conflicting transactions in a serializable way. We evaluate the PM protocol in terms of the number of transactions to be aborted.

Mobile Web Navigation in Digital Ecosystems Using Rooted Directed Trees

Due to advances in techniques for digital ecosystems and cyber engineering, users can now submit queries to search for inclusive information from different Web objects using mobile handheld devices such as smartphones in many real-life situations. As these mobile devices are not necessarily connected to the Internet all the time, users usually want to be able to get information such as e-mail, news, weather, and Web feed as soon as their mobile devices are connected to the Internet. However, these mobile devices have relatively limited resources. In this paper, we focus on mobile web navigation. Specifically, we use rooted directed trees, which enable users to access valuable information from the highly ranked and relevant Web sites, for answering user-inclusive queries.

A Negotiation-Style Recommender Based on Computational Ecology in Open Negotiation Environments

The system described herein represents the first example of a recommender system in digital ecosystems where agents negotiate services on behalf of small companies. The small companies compete not only with price or quality but also with a wider service-by-service composition by subcontracting with other companies. The final result of these offerings depends on negotiations at the scale of millions of small companies. This scale requires new platforms for supporting digital business ecosystems (DBEs), as well as related services like open-id, trust management, monitors, and recommenders. This is done in the Open Negotiation Environment (ONE), which is an open-source platform that allows agents, on behalf of small companies, to negotiate and use the ecosystem services, and enables the development of new agent technologies. The methods and tools of cyber engineering are necessary to build up ONEs that are stable, a basic condition for predictable and reliable business environments. Aiming to build stable DBEs by means of improved collective intelligence, we introduce a model of negotiation-style dynamics from the point of view of computational ecology. This model inspires an ecosystem monitor and a novel negotiation-style recommender (NSR). The ecosystem monitor provides hints to the NSR to achieve greater stability of ONE in a DBE. The greater stability provides the small companies with higher predictability and, therefore, better business results. The NSR is implemented with a simulated-annealing algorithm at a constant temperature, and its impact is shown by applying it to a real case of ONE populated by Italian companies.