@article {Alcaraz2022b, title = {Digital Twin: A Comprehensive Survey of Security Threats}, journal = {IEEE Communications Surveys \& Tutorials}, volume = {24}, number = {thirdquarter 2022}, year = {2022}, month = {04/2022}, pages = {1475 - 1503}, publisher = {IEEE}, type = {Survey}, address = {IEEE }, abstract = {

Industry 4.0 is having an increasingly positive impact on the value chain by modernizing and optimizing the production and distribution processes. In this streamline, the digital twin (DT) is one of the most cutting-edge technologies of Industry 4.0, providing simulation capabilities to forecast, optimize and estimate states and configurations. In turn, these technological capabilities are encouraging industrial stakeholders to invest in the new paradigm, though an increased focus on the risks involved is really needed. More precisely, the deployment of a DT is based on the composition of technologies such as cyber-physical systems, the Industrial Internet of Things, edge computing, virtualization infrastructures, artificial intelligence and big data. However, the confluence of all these technologies and the implicit interaction with the physical counterpart of the DT in the real world generate multiple security threats that have not yet been sufficiently studied. In that context, this paper analyzes the current state of the DT paradigm and classifies the potential threats associated with it, taking into consideration its functionality layers and the operational requirements in order to achieve a more complete and useful classification. We also provide a preliminary set of security recommendations and approaches that can help to ensure the appropriate and trustworthy use of a DT.

}, keywords = {Cybersecurity, Digital Twin, Industry 4.0}, issn = {1553-877X}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2022.3171465}, url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9765576}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez} } @article {lopez2020, title = {Digital Twins for Intelligent Authorization in the B5G-enabled Smart Grid}, journal = {IEEE Wireless Communications}, volume = {28}, year = {2021}, month = {04/2021}, pages = {48-55}, publisher = {IEEE}, abstract = {

Beyond fifth generation (B5G) communication networks and computation paradigms in the edge are expected to be integrated into power grid infrastructures over the coming years. In this sense, AI technologies will play a fundamental role to efficiently manage dynamic information flows of future applications, which impacts the authorization policies applied in such a complex scenario. This article studies how digital twins can evolve their context awareness capabilities and simulation technologies to anticipate faults or to detect cyber-security issues in real time, and update access control policies accordingly. Our study analyzes the evolution of monitoring platforms and architecture decentralization, including the application of machine learning and blockchain technologies in the smart grid, toward the goal of implementing autonomous and self-learning agents in the medium and long term. We conclude this study with future challenges on applying digital twins to B5G-based smart grid deployments.

}, issn = {1536-1284}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.001.2000336}, url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9430900}, author = {Javier Lopez and Juan E. Rubio and Cristina Alcaraz} } @inproceedings {1846, title = {Distributed Detection of APTs: Consensus vs. Clustering}, booktitle = {25th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS 2020)}, volume = {12308}, year = {2020}, month = {09/2020}, pages = {174-192}, keywords = {Advanced Persistent Threat, clustering, consensus, distributed detection, Opinion Dynamics, Traceability}, isbn = {978-3-030-58951-6}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58951-6_9}, author = {Juan E. Rubio and Cristina Alcaraz and Ruben Rios and Rodrigo Roman and Javier Lopez} } @inproceedings {1585, title = {Dynamic Restoration in Interconnected RBAC-based Cyber-Physical Control Systems}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 13th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications (SECRYPT 2016)}, year = {2016}, month = { 2016}, pages = {19-27}, address = {Lisboa}, abstract = {

Increasingly, automatic restoration is an indispensable security measure in control systems (e.g. those used in\ critical infrastructure sectors) due to the importance of ensuring the functionality of monitoring infrastructures.\ Modernizing the interconnection of control systems to provide interoperability between different networks, at\ a low cost, is also a critical requirement in control systems. However, automated recovery mechanisms are\ currently costly, and ensuring interoperability particularly at a low cost remains a topic of scientific challenge.\ This is the gap we seek to address in this paper. More specifically, we propose a restoration model for interconnected\ contexts, taking into account the theory of supernode and structural controllability, as well as the\ recommendations given by the IEC-62351-8 standard (which are mainly based on the implementation of a\ role-based access control system).

}, isbn = {978-989-758-196-0}, doi = {10.5220/0005942000190027}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez and Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo} } @article {alcaraz2013a, title = {Diagnosis Mechanism for Accurate Monitoring in Critical Infrastructure Protection}, journal = {Computer Standards \& Interfaces}, volume = {36}, year = {2014}, pages = {501-512}, publisher = {Elsevier}, abstract = {

\ Situational awareness for critical infrastructure protection, such as for energy\ control systems, has become a topic of interest in recent years. Despite attempts\ to address this area of research, more progress is still necessary to find attractive solutions that help bring about prevention and response at all times from\ anywhere and at any time. Given this need, we therefore propose in this paper, a smart mechanism able to offer a wide-area situational awareness with the\ ability to: (i) Control the real state of the observed infrastructure, (ii) respond\ to emergency situations and (iii) assess the degree of \ ccuracy of the entire\ control system. To address these aspects, the mechanism is based on a hierarchical configuration of industrial sensors for control, the ISA100.11a standard\ for the prioritization and alarm management, and the F-Measure technique to\ study the level of accuracy of a sensor inside a neighbourhood. As proof of the\ functionality and feasibility of the mechanism for critical contexts, a software\ application implemented in nesC and Java is also presented in this paper.

}, issn = {0920-5489}, doi = {10.1016/j.csi.2013.10.002}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez} }