Cybersecurity Engineering Research Articles

An expert system of recommendations for combating cyber threats using CVSS metrics and game theory

This study is focused on the creation of an expert system for generating recommendations on cyber security. The developed expert system uses a game-theoretic model as a inference engine to transform expert knowledge into recommendations for end-users, who may be chief IT security officers (CISOs), system administrators, or cyber security engineers. Expert knowledge is presented in the form of an estimate of the base group of CVSS metrics - Common Vulnerability Score System, for each type of attack and adjusted values of CVSS in the case that the counterattack strategy is applied. Given a set of attacks and a base of expert attack knowledge, the system generates a game matrix of zero-sum game with a cybercriminal and a cyberdefense expert as players. The inference engine of the expert system is a game-theoretic model responsible for solving the game using the Brown-Robinson iterative method and generating cyber protection recommendations. An experiment was conducted on the convergence of the BrownRobinson algorithm on the 2022 vulnerability dataset from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency database, as a result of which it was determined that the convergence of the algorithm for solving the matrix game is achieved at a number of iterations of 1000. As a result of the work, expert system was designed and implemented along with the Web interface, which provides input by experts of CVSS level assessments of collected threats, threats countermeasures and output of recommendations for combating cyber threats

A simulation framework for automotive cybersecurity risk assessment

Human-initiated disruptions such as cyberattacks on connected vehicles have the potential to cause cascading failures in transport systems, leading to systemic risks. ‘ISO/SAE 21434:2021 Road vehicles - Cybersecurity engineering’ is the current standard for risk management of road vehicles. However, the threat analysis and risk assessment framework given in the standard focuses on asset-level analysis and assessment. Hence, this study develops a novel simulation-based framework to perform threat analysis and risk assessment on connected vehicles from a transport network perspective. The proposed framework is developed based on the ISO/SAE 21434 threat analysis and risk assessment methodology. We demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of the framework through a remote attack via the cellular network on the in-vehicle communication bus system of a connected vehicle to show the potential impacts on the transport network. Based on the findings of our case studies, we exemplify how cyberattacks on individual system components of a connected vehicle have the potential to cause systemic failures.

A Holistic Approach to Cybersecurity Integration in Autonomous Vehicles

The breakthrough of the self-driving car technology is a double-edged sword that gives us incredible opportunities and at the same time, it is the source of huge cybersecurity challenges. This paper champions the creation of a complete legal system and worldwide standards, like the ISO 26262, to regulate different parts of the autonomous vehicle (AV) operations, such as safety testing, liability, data privacy, and cybersecurity. By highlighting the significance of cybersecurity from the very start, the stakeholders and the automakers have to incorporate the practices like secure programming, routine updates, intrusion detection systems and encryption methods which will be the effective shield against the unauthorized access and data breaches. People should be informed and educated about the cybersecurity risks of AVs so that they can take the steps to protect themselves. Nevertheless, the integration of AVs with the Internet of Things (IoT) and other devices makes the cybersecurity landscape even more complicated, which means that there is a constant need for research and development to deal with problems like adversarial attacks. Presently, the deep learning-driven AV systems do not have the explainability which complicates the safety-critical applications, hence the need to increase the resilience training and deepen the deep learning models against attacks. The paper goes through all the literature on AV cybersecurity which stresses the need for functional safety standards and cybersecurity engineering guidelines. Collaboration between the governments, the industry, and the researchers is a must to set the legal foundations and the technical details for the AV cybersecurity across all levels of automation. Finally, solid cybersecurity is the key to the success of the autonomous vehicle revolution, hence the road to transformative safety, efficiency, and sustainability is paved. INDEX TERMS: Autonomous vehicles, Cybersecurity, ISO 26262, Encryption methods, ISO 21434, EU regulations, Security and Privacy.

Challenges and efforts in managing AI trustworthiness risks: a state of knowledge.

This paper addresses the critical gaps in existing AI risk management frameworks, emphasizing the neglect of human factors and the absence of metrics for socially related or human threats. Drawing from insights provided by NIST AI RFM and ENISA, the research underscores the need for understanding the limitations of human-AI interaction and the development of ethical and social measurements. The paper explores various dimensions of trustworthiness, covering legislation, AI cyber threat intelligence, and characteristics of AI adversaries. It delves into technical threats and vulnerabilities, including data access, poisoning, and backdoors, highlighting the importance of collaboration between cybersecurity engineers, AI experts, and social-psychology-behavior-ethics professionals. Furthermore, the socio-psychological threats associated with AI integration into society are examined, addressing issues such as bias, misinformation, and privacy erosion. The manuscript proposes a comprehensive approach to AI trustworthiness, combining technical and social mitigation measures, standards, and ongoing research initiatives. Additionally, it introduces innovative defense strategies, such as cyber-social exercises, digital clones, and conversational agents, to enhance understanding of adversary profiles and fortify AI security. The paper concludes with a call for interdisciplinary collaboration, awareness campaigns, and continuous research efforts to create a robust and resilient AI ecosystem aligned with ethical standards and societal expectations.

Unscripted Practices for Uncertain Events: Organizational Problems in Cybersecurity Incident Management

Scripts can help us understand the designer–user relationship, by offering analysis of designers’ intent in technological objects and examination of users’ behaviors through willingness (and unwillingness) to take on scripts. But how are we to understand these relationships in the context of cybersecurity, in the face of adversaries determined to gain unauthorized access to computer systems by actively subverting scripts? In effect, cybersecurity attacks involve re-scripting of computing systems to gain unauthorized access through unscripted features of these systems. Cybersecurity attacks are always uncertain events: attackers can never be certain when re-scripting will be successful, and defenders can never be certain when or where to expect an attack, as unscripted features are difficult to know until they are exploited. In this paper, I study practices of cybersecurity incident response to examine how cybersecurity engineers respond to the novel attacks they encounter daily. I show how these are fundamentally unscripted practices emerging in response to unstable scripts, structured through the uncertainties inherent in cybersecurity engineering practice. The improvised practices and changing networks of social relations which I trace demonstrate the limits of stable scripts and provide new tools for analyzing unstable scripts.

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Evaluasi Kinerja Dosen Program Studi Rekayasa Keamanan Siber Berbasis Website Menggunakan Metode Fuzzy Tahani

This research applies the Fuzzy Tahani method to a decision support system for evaluating the performance of faculty members in the Cyber Security Engineering Study Program at Bhakti Semesta Polytechnic. The Fuzzy Tahani method is expected to assist in processing data from faculty performance evaluation questionnaires and improve the accuracy of reporting and calculations. The Research and Development method is used as an approach to systematically address the issues. The decision support system for faculty performance assessment was successfully developed using the Fuzzy Tahani method with PHP programming language. This system is expected to help determine the level of student satisfaction with faculty performance and enhance faculty effectiveness. The test results show that the employed Fuzzy Tahani method achieved 100% accuracy, comparing manual calculations with the system's calculations. With the implementation of this system, the processing of faculty performance evaluation data becomes more efficient and accurate.

ICVTest: A Practical Black-Box Penetration Testing Framework for Evaluating Cybersecurity of Intelligent Connected Vehicles

Intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) are equipped with extensive electronic control units which offer convenience but also pose significant cybersecurity risks. Penetration testing, recommended in ISO/SAE 21434 “Road vehicles—Cybersecurity engineering”, is an effective approach to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in ICVs. However, there is limited research on vehicle penetration testing from a black-box perspective due to the complex architecture of ICVs. Additionally, no penetration testing framework has been proposed to guide security testers on conducting penetration testing for the whole vehicle. The lack of framework guidance results in the inexperienced security testers being uncertain about the processes to follow for conducting penetration testing. Moreover, the inexperienced security testers are unsure about which tests to perform in order to systematically evaluate the vehicle’s cybersecurity. To enhance the penetration testing efficiency of ICVs, this paper presents a black-box penetration testing framework, ICVTest. ICVTest proposes a standardized penetration testing process to facilitate step-by-step completion of the penetration testing, thereby addressing the issue of inexperienced testers lacking guidance on how to initiate work when confronted with ICV. Also, ICVTest includes 10 sets of test cases covering hardware and software security tests. Testers can select appropriate test cases based on the specific cybersecurity threats faced by the target object, thereby reducing the complexity of penetration testing tasks. Furthermore, we have developed a vehicle cybersecurity testing platform for ICVTest that seamlessly integrates various testing tools. The platform enables even novice testers to conduct vehicle black-box penetration testing in accordance with the given guidance which addresses the current industry’s challenge of an overwhelming number of testing tasks coupled with a shortage of skilled professionals. For the first time, we propose a comprehensive black-box penetration testing framework and implement the framework in the form of a cybersecurity testing platform. We apply ICVTest to evaluate an electric vehicle manufactured in 2021 for assessing the framework’s availability. With the aid of ICVTest, even testers with limited experience in automotive penetration can effectively evaluate the security risks of ICVs. In our experiments, numerous cybersecurity vulnerabilities were identified involving in-vehicle sensors, remote vehicle control systems, and in-vehicle controller area network (CAN) bus.

A Global Survey of Standardization and Industry Practices of Automotive Cybersecurity Validation and Verification Testing Processes and Tools

<div>The United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation 155—Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Management System (UN R155) mandates the development of cybersecurity management systems (CSMS) as part of a vehicle’s lifecycle. An inherent component of the CSMS is cybersecurity risk management and assessment. Validation and verification testing is a key activity for measuring the effectiveness of risk management, and it is mandated by UN R155 for type approval. Due to the focus of R155 and its suggested implementation guideline, ISO/SAE 21434:2021—Road Vehicle Cybersecurity Engineering, mainly centering on the alignment of cybersecurity risk management to the vehicle development lifecycle, there is a gap in knowledge of proscribed activities for validation and verification testing. This research provides guidance on automotive cybersecurity testing and verification by providing an overview of the state-of-the-art in relevant automotive standards, outlining their transposition into national regulation and the currently used processes and tools in the automotive industry. Through engagement with state-of-the-art literature and workshops and surveys with industry groups, our study found that national regulatory authorities are moving to enshrine UN R155 as part of their vehicle regulations, with differences of implementation based on regulatory culture and pre-existing approaches to vehicle regulation. Validation and verification testing is developing aligned to UN R155 and ISO21434:2021; however, the testing approaches currently used within industry utilize elements of traditional enterprise information technology methods for penetration testing and toolsets. Electrical/electronic (E/E) components such as embedded control units (ECUs) are considered the primary testing target; however, connected and autonomous vehicle technologies are increasingly attracting more focus for testing.</div>

Video Sequence Segmentation Based on K-Means in Air-Gap Data Transmission for a Cluttered Environment

An air gap is a technique that increases the security of information systems. The use of unconventional communication channels allows for obtaining communication that is of interest to the attacker as well as to cybersecurity engineers. One of the very dangerous forms of attack is the use of computer screen brightness modulation, which is not visible to the user but can be observed from a distance by the attacker. Once infected, the computer can transmit data over long distances. Even in the absence of direct screen visibility, transmission can be realized by analyzing the modulated reflection of the monitor's afterglow. The paper presents a new method for the automatic segmentation of video sequences to retrieve the transmitted data that does not have the drawbacks of the heretofore known method of growth (filling) based on an analysis of adjacent pixels. A fast camera operating at 380 fps was used for image acquisition. The method uses the characteristics of the amplitude spectrum for individual pixels, which is specific to the light sources in the room, and clustering with the k-means algorithm to group pixels into larger areas. Then, using the averaging of values for individual areas, it is possible to recover the 2-PAM (pulse-amplitude modulation) signal even at a 1000 times greater level of interference in the area to the transmitted signal, as shown in the experiments. The method does not require high-quality lenses.

Experiences with the automotive SPICE for cybersecurity assessment model and tools

AbstractIn August 2021 the ISO 21434:2021 standard for Road vehicles—Cybersecurity Engineering has been published. At the same time the blue book from VDA (Verein der Deutschen Automobilgesellschaft; German Automotive Association) for Automotive SPICE cybersecurity assessments has been released. In addition in the period September–December 2021 the training material for iNTACS (INTernational Assessor Certification Schema) certified Automotive SPICE for cybersecurity assessors has been developed. Since February 2022 the upgrade training of assessors worldwide has started. Beside the ASPICE (Automotive SPICE) for cybersecurity blue book also a red book from VDA has been published. The red book describes the questions to check in an ACSMS (Automotive CyberSecurity Management System) audit. This paper explains the main strategy and content for ASPICE for Cybersecurity assessments and how such assessments are integrated to the overall ACSMS strategy. Also, the paper outlines an example method and tool used in ASPICE for cybersecurity assessments and how such assessment results will look like.

Cybersecurity Comparison of Brain-Based Automotive Electrical and Electronic Architectures

Modern autonomous vehicles with an electric/electronic (E/E) architecture represent the next big step in the automation and evolution of smart and self-driving vehicles. This technology is of significant interest nowadays and humans are currently witnessing the development of the different levels of automation for their vehicles. According to recent demand, the components of smart vehicles are centrally or zonally connected, as well as connected to clouds to ensure the seamless automation of driving functions. This necessity has a downside, as it makes the system vulnerable to malicious attacks from hackers with unethical motives. To ensure the control, safety, and security of smart vehicles, attaining and upholding automotive cybersecurity standards is inevitable. The ISO/SAE 21434 Road vehicle—Cybersecurity engineering standard document was published in 2021 and can be considered the Bible of automotive cybersecurity. In this paper, a comparison between four different E/E architectures was made based on the aforementioned standard. One of them is the traditional distributed architecture with many electronic control units (ECUs). The other three architectures consist of centralized or zonally distributed high-performance computers (HPCs). As the complexity of autonomous E/E systems are on the rise, the traditional distributive method is compared against the HPC (brain)-based architectures to visualize a comparative scenario between the architectures. The authors of this paper analyzed the threats and damage scenarios of the architectures using the ISO/SAE 21434 standard, “Microsoft Threat Analysis Tool - STRIDE”, TARA, and “Ansys Medini Analyze”. Security controls are recommended to mitigate the threats and risks in all of these studied architectures. This work attempted to mitigate the gap in the scholarly literature by creating a comparative image of the E/E architectures on a generalized level. The exploratory method of this research provides the reader with knowledge on four different architecture types, their fundamental properties, advantages, and disadvantages along with a general overview of the threats and vulnerabilities associated with each in light of the ISO/SAE 21434 standard. The improvement possibilities of the studied architectures are provided and their advantages and disadvantages are highlighted herein.

Analysis of Cyber Security Knowledge and Skills for Capture the Flag Competition

CTF (Capture The Flag) competitions have emerged as a pivotal instrument in development of cyber security education over the past six years. It is imperative to ensure that the CTF competitions continue to develop to facilitate growth of cyber security education. To achieve the desired growth, it is necessary to analyze the progress achieved in the last six years the program has been implemented. This research collects and analyzes approximately 500 CTF solutions from the CTFtime platform. From the results of this analysis, we have identified that skills and techniques are needed in each category of CTF questions. We use the results of this analysis as a reference for questions on the CTF Platform that we created during PCT (Polibatam Cyber ​​Team) regeneration. PCT consists of a group of students from the Cyber ​​Security Engineering study program who are prepared to be at the forefront in participating in various activities related to Cyber ​​Security. The method we use is different from other CTFs, in that we use a skill-based and technique-based approach. We found that this approach was able to attract 80% of participants in solving and improving their skills in Cyber Security towards any challenges in a competitive environment.

Changing the Paradigm of Control System Cybersecurity

Current cybersecurity protection relies on network monitoring. Changing the paradigm to monitor process sensors makes it practical to develop workable control system cybersecurity engineering solutions while simultaneously addressing reliability, safety, resilience, and productivity concerns.

ThreatSurf: A method for automated Threat Surface assessment in automotive cybersecurity engineering

Connected smart cars enable new attacks that may have serious consequences. Thus, the development of new cars must follow a cybersecurity engineering process including a Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment (TARA). The attack surface assessment is a central aspect of a TARA. In this paper, we introduce a concrete approach for attack surface assessment following the steps asset identification, threat scenario identification, attack path analysis, and attack feasibility rating of a TARA compliant to ISO/SAE DIS 21434 and an approach to automatize them. We define a generic reference architecture and assets constituting the attack surface, attack building blocks with associated feasibility rating, and a method for automated generation and rating of attack paths using the attack building blocks and attack feasibility. Our exemplary application of the automated attack surface assessment on several threats from the UN regulation no. 155 shows the feasibility of our approach.

Why make it hard? - Usage of aggregated statistical data for risk assessment of damage scenarios in the context of ISO/SAE 21434

ISO/SAE 21434 "Road vehicles - Cybersecurity engineering" is a standard for cyber security, which has been published since August 2021. The standard covers the concept phase. The concept phase is characterized by the cooperation of various mostly high-level stakeholders from different disciplines, departments and possibly companies. The cooperation takes place mainly in workshops. ISO/SAE 21434 requires a Threat and Risk Assessment (TARA) to be carried out for the concept phase. Within TARA, damage scenarios are to be identified for the vehicle/components to be developed. Furthermore, the effects of these damage scenarios are to be assessed. In this context, ISO/SAE 21434 refers to the risk classification scheme ASIL of ISO 26262, which is established in the automotive industry. For the effective application of these schemes, expert knowledge is necessary on the one hand, and verified data on accident types and accident causes are required on the other hand. Access to this data is often difficult and the data itself is not suitable for direct use in workshops.In this paper we present tools for the assessment of damage scenarios. For this purpose, we use data from the Federal Statistical Office (StBA) with over 2 million registered traffic accidents in Germany per year. We have analyzed the StBA data and evaluated them according to their usefulness for workshops. The result of this work are several concrete ASIL tables which address different types of accidents and causes of accidents. In two workshop with 17 experts from the automotive sector and with experts from product development, we applied the elaborated tables to evaluate different damage scenarios.

Cybersecurity Threat Analysis, Risk Assessment and Design Patterns for Automotive Networked Embedded Systems: A Case Study

Cybersecurity has become a crucial challenge in the automotive sector. At the current stage, the framework described by the ISO/SAE 21434 is insufficient to derive concrete methods for the design of secure automotive networked embedded systems on the supplier level. This article describes a case study with actionable steps for designing secure systems and systematically eliciting traceable cybersecurity requirements to address this gap. The case study is aligned with the ISO/SAE 21434 standard and can provide the basis for integrating cybersecurity engineering into company-specific processes and practice specifications.

Evaluating Software Quality Attributes using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

The use of quality software is of importance to stakeholders and its demand is on the increase. This work focuses on meeting software quality from the user and developer’s perspective. After a review of some existing software-quality models, twenty-four software quality attributes addressed by ten models such as the McCall’s, Boehm’s, ISO/IEC, FURPS, Dromey’s, Kitchenham’s, Ghezzi’s, Georgiadou’s, Jamwal’s and Glibb’s models were identified. We further categorized the twenty-four attributes into a group of eleven (11) main attributes and another group of thirteen (13) sub-attributes. Thereafter, questionnaires were administered to twenty experts from fields including Cybersecurity, Programming, Software Development and Software Engineering. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to perform a multi-criteria decision-making assessment on the responses from the questionnaires to select the suitable software quality attribute for the development of the proposed quality model to meet both users and developer’s software quality requirements. The results obtained from the assessment showed Maintainability to be the most important quality attribute followed by Security, Testability, Reliability, Efficiency, Usability, Portability, Reusability, Functionality, Availability and finally, Cost.

Adaption of a Secure Software Development Methodology for Secure Engineering Design

With the rapid advancement of technologies in the era of Industry 4.0, the inter-connected nature of operations and systems is introducing a rapidly changing landscape of digitized and connected systems. Cybercrime is considered as possibly the greatest threat to connected systems worldwide, and therefore there exists a large drive in engineering to include cybersecurity in the design, development and maintenance of smart cyber-physical systems. Traditionally, the cybersecurity space was considered the responsibility of Information Technology (IT) professionals, where the greater IT infrastructure was required to keep these engineering systems safe. However, through the evolution of engineering and control systems, the IT infrastructure has started to become more integrated with these systems, improving the efficiency of the systems, but also making them more susceptible to cyber-attacks. These changes mean that securing these systems cannot remain the sole responsibility of the IT professionals, as systems must be designed with cybersecurity in mind. Considering that engineers are designing and developing more integrated systems, there exists a knowledge gap in the field of cybersecurity engineering and engineers' understanding of their cybersecurity responsibilities. This study aimed to determine the level of security that is currently considered in standard electrical engineering projects in a typical academic environment. This baseline serves as a motivation to develop a practical approach to assist engineering students in considering cybersecurity when developing engineering systems and products.

An Automotive Signal-Layer Security and Trust-Boundary Identification Approach

Abstract: An important trend in the automotive domain is to adapt established functional safety processes and methods for security engi- neering. Although functional safety and cyber-security engineering have a considerable overlap, the trend of adapting methods from one domain to the other is often challenged by non-domain experts. Just as safety became a critical part of the development in the late 20th century, modern vehicles are now required to become resilient against cyber-attacks. As vehicle providers gear up for this challenge, they can capitalize on experiences from many other domains, but must also face several unique challenges. Such as, that cyber-security engineering will now join reliability and safety as a cornerstone for success in the automotive industry and approaches need to be integrated into the mainly safety oriented development lifecycle of the domain. The recently released SAE J3061 guidebook for cyber-physical vehicle systems focus on designing cyber-security aware systems in close relation to the automotive safety standard ISO 26262. The key contribution of this paper is to analyse a method to identify attack vectors on complex automotive systems via signal interfaces and propose a security classification scheme and protection mechanisms on signal layer. To that aim, the hardware- software interface (HSI), a central development artefact of the ISO 26262 functional safety development process, is used and extended to support the cyber-security engineering process and provide cyber-security countermeasures on signal layer.

Zero-Crossing Analysis and Information Divergence of Lévy Walks for Real-Time Feature Extraction

A method, based on the Smirnov transform, for generating synthetic data with the statistical properties of Lévy-walks is presented. This method can be utilized for generating arbitrary prescribed probability density functions (pdf). A cybersecurity engineering problem associated with Internet traffic is addressed. The synthetic Lévy-walks process is intertwined with sections of distinct characteristics creating a composite signal that is analyzed through zero-crossing rate (ZCR) within a varying-size window to identify sections. The advantages of the ZCR computation directly in the time-domain are appealing for real-time implementations. Moreover, the characterization of the degree of closeness, via the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD), among the pdfs of arbitrary processes (focusing on Lévy walks) and model pdfs is presented. The results obtained from the KLD experiments provide a categorical determination of the closeness degree. These results, a remarkable achievement in this research, are also promising to be used as features for classification of complex signals in real-time.