Securing Positive Train Control Systems
Mark W. Hartong, Rajni Goel, Duminda Wijesekera · 2007
Positive traincontrol(PTC)systemsare distributed interoperablesystems that control the movement of passenger and freight trains, providing significant safety enhancements over traditional methods of operating railroads. Due to their reliance onwirelesscommunications, PTCsystems are vulnerable to attacks that can compromise safety and potentially cause serious accidents. Designing PTC systems that can mitigate the negative effects of wireless-based exploits are mandatory to ensuring railroad safety. This paper employs use cases and misuse cases to analyze the effects of exploiting vulnerabilities in PTC systems. Use cases specify operational interactions and requirements, while misuse cases specify potential misuse or abuse scenarios. A distributed trust management system is proposed to enable PTC use cases and eliminate identified misuse cases. Keywords: Railroad security, positive train control, use cases, misuse cases