SECURITY OF CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS THROUGH DYNAMIC COMPONENT MANAGEMENT
Anton D. Hristozov, Eric T. Matson, Eric Dietz, Marcus, Roger · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2023
The environment in which cyber-physical systems (CPS) operate can vary in complexity and experiences change constantly. These systems work mostly autonomously, without supervision, and with little or no maintenance. They continuously interact with the environment and with other systems. The expectation is for them to last for long periods, sometimes years or even decades. Their operation is under constantly evolving threats, which present new challenges to designers. The ability to replace software components on the fly can be an effective way to improve software security. Techniques such as redundancy and diversification become feasible, if a general mechanism for software component update is available during run-time. These goals can become possible if issues such as component interfaces, state, authentication, and dynamic management can be handled practically. In this current study, the authors focused on the feasibility, mechanisms, and limitations of dynamic management of software components to improve security. The focus of the experiments was on software architectures, such as the PX4 autopilot. Still, they can be applied to various CPSs, such as edge devices, smart sensors, and even autonomous robots. The use case explores the approach’s feasibility for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s. From this study, the authors present an analysis of the effects of such techniques on the overall mission of the system.