Other Research Areas

Resilient Cyber Physical Systems

Cyber Physical Systems

A cyber physical system (CPS) is defined as a system involving the close integration of the system’s cyber (computational and communications) and physical components. Ideally, the tight coordination of the cyber and physical elements enables greater autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability, adaptability and usability. CPSs are typically considered to be “next generation” systems that will evolve from current generation embedded systems, sensor networks, robotics, energy systems and medical technology among other application spaces.

The Need for Security

The security of these systems must be addressed for a number of reasons. First, many envisioned CPSs will be used for critical decision-making and will affect human and societal welfare at different scales making it imperative that these systems be trustworthy, robust and reliable. For example, the emerging smart grid is a CPS involving bidirectional energy and information flow. The security and resilience of this critical infrastructure is of paramount importance. Similarly, technologies for robotic surgery must be trustworthy given their crucial application to healthcare and human welfare. Second, the tight coupling of cyber-physical components results in a highly information technology-intertwined system which is vulnerable to cyber attack on many scales. These attacks may be commonly known or even readily available online. Thus, CPSs provide greater opportunities for malicious opponents. Third, many CPS application areas such as the field of electric power systems are governed with cyber security guidelines and standards. For example, new “smart” technologies integrated by electric power utilities (EPUs) must be security-compliant. Thus, to be able to gain market share, vendors of secure CPS  technologies must account for security in their subsystems design and development.

Vision

Secure cyber physical systems are envisioned to 1) provide robust control and communications, 2) be self- and situationally-aware in real-time, 3) provide continuous (but possibly limited) service under persistent attacks and failures, and 4) work cooperatively with shared defenses and understanding. Such functionality enables a cyber physical system to operate with the purpose for which it was procured even in the presence of malicious parties and/or adversarial efforts. This requires multidisciplinary support for security solutions that are autonomous, cooperative, efficient, reconfigurable, resilient, robust and scalable. And thus a deep understanding of the cyber interactions and infrastructure physics on a common semantic basis is needed to understand information flow and physical dependencies detrimental to operation.

The current generation of CPS-like systems demonstrates a large degree of decoupling. Cyber and physical elements are distinct and approaches to securing these systems are not holistic. This creates a separation within the various system and system protection technologies. One of the main goals our research is to enable the tighter coupling between the cyber and physical entities while addressing issues of security and trust during system inception, design, development and even deployment. This requires first understanding the cyber-physical interactions within a common language that enables the exploration of system vulnerabilities and approaches to robustness.

Research Focus

Our research focuses on the development of  CPS modeling frameworks in order to understand elements of secure (and insecure) system topologies. Our recent focus has been on the modeling of smart grid systems. In one thrust, we have identified a class of cyber-physical switching attacks via variable-structure system theory. Here, we demonstrate how an attacker can cyber-corrupt breaker control signals to destabilize a target power system component such as a synchronous generator using local state information about the power system. The work enables a better understanding of how to design smart grid topologies intrinsically robust to this form of reconfiguration attack. In another thrust, we develop a flocking-theory inspired paradigm to describe smart grid cyber-physical interactions. Such a biologically-inspired framework enables the convenient description of (discrete) cyber and (analog) physical couplings. Through this paradigm, we demonstrate active control approaches using distributed generators and storage to re-stabilize a smart grid system under various forms of cyber and physical attack.

Related Course Resources

Cyber-Physical Security of the Smart Grid

Related Publications
101 entries « 1 of 3 »

M. A. Alomrani; M.H.K. Tushar; D. Kundur

Detecting State of Charge False Reporting Attacks via Reinforcement Learning Approach Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 24 (10), pp. 10467-10476, 2023.

BibTeX | Links:

A Mohamed; M. Khalaf; D. Kundur

On the Use of Safety Critical Control for Cyber-Physical Security in the Smart Grid Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, 2023.

BibTeX

M. Khalaf; A. Ayad; M.M.A. Salama; D. Kundur; E.F. El-Saadany

Mitigation of Cyber-attacks on Wide-Area Under-Frequency Load-Shedding Schemes Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 14 (3), pp. 2377-2389, 2023.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Khalil; M. Al Janaideh; D. Kundur

Online Fault Classification in Connected Autonomous Vehicles using Output-Only Measurements Journal Article

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 190 , pp. 1-15, 2023.

BibTeX | Links:

M. Zhou, A. Abiri Jahromi, D. Kundur, J. Wu; C. Long

Revealing Vulnerability of N-1 Secure Power Systems to Coordinated Cyber-Physical Attacks Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 38 (2), pp. 1044-1057, 2023.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Kemmeugne, A. Abiri Jahromi; D. Kundur

Resilience Enhancement of Pilot Protection in Power Systems Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 37 (6), pp. accepted, 2022.

BibTeX | Links:

K.-F. Hsueh; A. Farnood; M. Al Janaideh; D. Kundur

Hybrid Approach for Stabilizing Large Time Delays in Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control with Reduced Performance Penalties Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Kyoto, Japan, 2022.

BibTeX

M. Zhou; J Wu; C. Long; C. Liu; D. Kundur

Dynamic-Line-Rating-Based Robust Corrective Dispatch against Load Redistribution Attacks with Unknown Objectives Journal Article

IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 9 (18), pp. 17756-17766, 2022.

BibTeX | Links:

K.F. Aljanaideh; J. Al Janaideh; D. Kundur

Identification of a Class of Precision Motion Systems with Uncertain Hysteretic Nonlinearities Journal Article

International Journal of Control, pp. 1-18, 2022.

BibTeX | Links:

A.M. Khalil; M. Al Janaideh; K.F. Aljanaideh; D. Kundur

Transmissibility-based Health Monitoring of the Future Connected Autonomous Vehicles Networks Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 71 (4), pp. 3633-3647, 2022.

BibTeX | Links:

J. R. Kumar; B. Sikdar; D. Kundur

Electromagnetic Transients Based Detection of Data Manipulation Attacks in Three Phase Radial Distribution Networks Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 58 (10:S197), pp. 667-677, 2022.

BibTeX | Links:

K.-F. Hsueh; I. Al-Darabsah; M. Al Janaideh; S.A. Campbell; D. Kundur

Vulnerability of Connected Autonomous Vehicles Networks to Periodic Time-Varying Communication Delays of Certain Frequency Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2021.

BibTeX

A. Sabr Mohammad; M.F.M. Arani; A. Abiri Jahromi; D. Kundur

False Data Injection Attacks Against Synchronization Systems in Microgrids Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 12 (5), pp. 4471-4483, 2021.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Khalil; M. Al Janaideh; K. Aljanaideh; D. Kundur

Health Monitoring of Mixed Autonomous and Human-driven Vehicle Platoon using Transmissibility Identification Inproceedings

Proc. American Control Conference, 2021.

BibTeX

A. Khalil; M. Al Janaideh; K. Aljanaideh; D. Kundur

Output Only Fault Detection and Mitigation of Networks of Autonomous Vehicles Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2020.

BibTeX

A. Khalil; M. Al Janaideh; K. Aljanaideh; D. Kundur

Fault Detection, Localization, and Mitigation of a Network of Connected Autonomous Vehicles Using Transmissibility Identification Inproceedings

Proc. American Control Conference, 2020.

BibTeX

M. Zare Jahromi; A. Abiri Jahromi; S. Sanner; D. Kundur; M. Kassouf

Cybersecurity Enhancement of Transformer Differential Protection using Machine Learning Inproceedings

Proc. Power & Energy Society Annual General Meeting, 2020.

BibTeX

A. Abiri Jahromi; A. Kemmeugne; D. Kundur; A. Haddadi

Cyber-Physical Attacks Targeting Communication Assisted Protection Schemes Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 35 (1), pp. 440-450, 2020.

BibTeX | Links:

Y.M. Khaw; A. Abiri Jahromi; M.F.M. Arani; D. Kundur; S. Sanner; M. Kassouf

Preventing False Tripping Cyberattacks Against Distince Relays: A Deep Learning Approach Inproceedings

Proc. SmartGridComm, Beijing, China, 2019.

BibTeX

M. Al Janaideh; E.M. Hammad; A. Farraj; D. Kundur

Mitigating Attacks with Nonlinear Dynamics on Actuators in Cyber-Physical Mechatronic Systems Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 15 (9), pp. 4845-4856, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

E.M. Hammad; A. Farraj; D. Kundur

On Cyber-Physical Coupling and Distributed Control in Smart Grids Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 15 (8), pp. 4418-4429, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

K. Aljanaideh; M. Al Janaideh; M. Rakotondrabe; D. Kundur

Identification of Hammerstein Systems with Rate-Dependent Hysteresis Nonlinearities in a Class of Smart Material-Based Actuators Inproceedings

Proc. American Control Conference, 2019.

BibTeX

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

Intelligent Signal Processing and Coordination for the Adaptive Smart Grid Journal Article

IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 36 (3), pp. 82-102, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

M. Arani; A. Abiri Jahromi; D. Kundur; M. Kassouf

Modeling and Simulation of the Aurora Attack on Microgrid Point of Common Coupling Inproceedings

Proc. 7th Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems at CPSWeek, pp. to appear, 2019.

BibTeX

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

A Hierarchical Framework for Optimal Power Flow Management in the Smart Power Grid Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Signal and Information Processing over Networks, 5 (1), pp. 86-99, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

M. Sabounchi; J. Wei-Kocsis; D. Lee; D. Kundur

Flocking-Based Adaptive Granular Control Strategy for Autonomous Microgrids in Emergency Situations Journal Article

IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory & Applications, 4 (2), pp. 108-119, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

E. Hammad; A. Farraj; D. Kundur

On Effective Virtual Inertia of Storage-Based Distributed Control for Transient Stability Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 10 (1), pp. 327-336, 2019.

BibTeX | Links:

E. Hammad; A.M. Khalil; A. Farraj; D. Kundur; R. Iravani

A Class of Switching Exploits Based on Inter-Area Oscillations Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 9 (5), pp. 4659-4668, 2018.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

Storage-Based Multi-Agent Regulation Framework for Smart Grid Resilience Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 14 (9), pp. 3859-3869, 2018.

BibTeX | Links:

C. Liu; M. Zhou; J. Wu; C. Long; D. Kundur

Reactance Perturbation for Detecting and Identifying FDI Attacks in Power System State Estimation Journal Article

IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing, 12 (4), pp. 763-776, 2018.

BibTeX | Links:

K. Aljanaideh; M. Rakotondrabe; M. Al Janaideh; D. Kundur

Identification of Precision Motion Systems with Prandtl-Ishlinskii Hysteresis Nonlinearities Inproceedings

Proc. American Control Conference, pp. to appear, 2018.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

A Cyber-Physical Control Framework for Transient Stability in Smart Grids Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 9 (2), pp. 1205-1215, 2018.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

A Distributed Control Paradigm for Smart Grid to Address Attacks on Data Integrity and Availability Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Signal and Information Processing over Networks Special Issue on Distributed Signal Processing for Security and Privacy in Networked Cyber-Physical Systems, 4 (1), pp. 70-81, 2018.

BibTeX | Links:

C. Liu; M. Zhou; J. Wu; C. Long; A. Farraj; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Reactance Perturbation for Enhancing Detection of FDI Attacks in Power System State Estimation Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE GlobalSIP Symposium on Control & Information Theoretic Approaches to Privacy and Security, Montreal, Canada, 2017.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

On the Impact of Cyber Attacks on Data Integrity in Storage-Based Transient Stability Control Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 13 (6), pp. 3322-3333, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

Resilient Distributed Real-Time Demand Response via Population Games Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 8 (6), pp. 2532-2543, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

On the Use of Energy Storage Systems and Linear Feedback Optimal Control for Transient Stability Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 13 (4), pp. 1575 - 1585, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

A DER Attack-Mitigation Differential Game for Smart Grid Security Analysis Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 7 (3), pp. 1476-1485, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

Real-Time Integration of Intermittent Generation with Voltage Rise Considerations Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 8 (3), pp. 938-952, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

P. Srikantha; D. Kundur

A Game Theoretic Approach to Real-Time Robust Distributed Generation Dispatch Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 13 (3), pp. 1006-1016, 2017.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Farraj; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Impact of Cyber Attacks on Data Integrity in Transient Stability Control Inproceedings

Proc. 2nd Workshop on Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience in Smart Grids at CPSWeek 2017, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Performance Metrics for Storage-Based Transient Stability Control Inproceedings

Proc. 2nd Workshop on Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience in Smart Grids at CPSWeek 2017, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Toward a Practical Storage-Based Control Scheme for Transient Stability Applications Inproceedings

Proc. Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems at CPSWeek 2017, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017.

BibTeX

E.M. Hammad; M. Ezeme; A. Farraj; D. Kundur

Implementation of an Offline Co-Simulation Test-bed for Cyber Security and Control Verification Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE GLOBECOM Workshop on Cyber-Physical Smart Grid Security and Resilience, Pittsburgh, PA, 2016.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; A. Al Daoud; D. Kundur

A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Cyber Switching Attacks and Mitigation in Smart Grid Systems Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 7 (4), pp. 1846-1855, 2016.

BibTeX | Links:

A. Farraj; E. Hammad; D. Kundur

A Cyber-Enabled Stabilizing Control Scheme for Resilient Smart Grid Systems Journal Article

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 7 (4), pp. 1856-1865, 2016.

BibTeX | Links:

H. Chan; E.M. Hammad; A. Farraj; D. Kundur

Investigating the Impact of Intrusion Detection System Performance on Communication Latency and Power System Stability Inproceedings

Proc. ACM e-Energy Workshop on Communications, Computation and Control for Resilient Smart Energy Systems, Waterloo, Ontario, 2016.

BibTeX

A. Farraj; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Enhancing the Performance of Controlled Distributed Energy Resources in Noisy Communication Environments Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical & Computer Engineering, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2016.

BibTeX

M. Ezeme; E.M. Hammad; D. Kundur

Control Verification via Off-Line Co-Simulation Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical & Computer Engineering, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2016.

BibTeX

E.M. Hammad; A.M. Khalil; A. Farraj; D. Kundur; R. Iravani

Tuning Out of Phase: Resonance Attacks Inproceedings

Proc. IEEE SmartGridComm, Miami, FL, 2015.

BibTeX

101 entries « 1 of 3 »