Cristina Alcaraz

@article{1770,

title = {Smart Control of Operational Threats in Control Substations},

author = {Javier Lopez and Cristina Alcaraz and Rodrigo Roman},

url = {/wp-content/papers/1770.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167404813000588},

doi = {10.1016/j.cose.2013.03.013},

issn = {0167-4048},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-10-01},

urldate = {2013-10-01},

journal = {Computers \& Security},

volume = {38},

pages = {14-27},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Any deliberate or unsuitable operational action in control tasks of critical infrastructures, such as energy generation, transmission and distribution systems that comprise sub-domains of a Smart Grid, could have a significant impact on the digital economy: without energy, the digital economy cannot live. In addition, the vast majority of these types of critical systems are configured in isolated locations where their control depends on the ability of a few, supposedly trustworthy, human operators. However, this assumption of reliabilty is not always true. Malicious human operators (criminal insiders) might take advantage of these situations to intentionally manipulate the critical nature of the underlying infrastructure. These criminal actions could be not attending to emergency events, inadequately responding to incidents or trying to alter the normal behaviour of the system with malicious actions. For this reason, in this paper we propose a smart response mechanism that controls human operators’ operational threats at all times. Moreover, the design of this mechanism allows the system to be able to not only evaluate by itself, the situation of a particular scenario but also to take control when areas are totally unprotected and/or isolated. The response mechanism, which is based on Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) for the constant monitoring of observed critical infrastructures, on reputation for controlling human operators’ actions, and on the ISA100.11a standard for alarm management, has been implemented and simulated to evaluate its feasibility for critical contexts.},

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tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{1762,

title = {Critical Control System Protection in the 21st Century: Threats and Solutions},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Sherali Zeadally},

doi = {10.1109/MC.2013.69},

issn = {0018-9162},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-00-01},

urldate = {2013-00-01},

journal = {IEEE Computer},

volume = {46},

number = {10},

pages = {74 - 83},

publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},

abstract = {Information systems, networks, and technologies have become an integral part of modern critical control systems that manage many of today\&$#$x2019;s critical infrastructures. The continuous operation, maintenance, and protection of critical infrastructures have become a high national priority for governments around the world because our society heavily depends on them for most of our daily activities (travel, power usage, banking transactions, telecommunications, etc) and safety. It is therefore critical that these infrastructures have to be protected from potential accidental incidents or cyberattacks. We present the fundamental architectural components of critical control systems which manage most critical infrastructures. We identify some of the vulnerabilities and threats to modern critical control systems followed by protection solutions that can be deployed to mitigate attacks exploiting these vulnerabilities.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{1752,

title = {Security of Industrial Sensor Network-based Remote Substations in the context of the Internet of Things},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Rodrigo Roman and Pablo Najera and Javier Lopez},

url = {/wp-content/papers/1752.pdf},

doi = {10.1016/j.adhoc.2012.12.001},

issn = {1570-8705},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-00-01},

urldate = {2013-00-01},

journal = {Ad Hoc Networks},

volume = {11},

pages = {1091\textendash1104},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The main objective of remote substations is to provide the central system with sensitive information from critical infrastructures, such as generation, distribution or transmission power systems. Wireless sensor networks have been recently applied in this particular context due to their attractive services and inherent benefits, such as simplicity, reliability and cost savings. However, as the number of control and data acquisition systems that use the Internet infrastructure to connect to substations increases, it is necessary to consider what connectivity model the sensor infrastructure should follow: either completely isolated from the Internet or integrated with it as part of the Internet of Things paradigm. This paper therefore addresses this question by providing a thorough analysis of both security requirements and infrastructural requirements corresponding to all those TCP/IP integration strategies that can be applicable to networks with constrained computational resources.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{1761,

title = {Wide-Area Situational Awareness for Critical Infrastructure Protection},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez},

url = {/wp-content/papers/1761.pdf

http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MC.2013.72},

doi = {10.1109/MC.2013.72},

issn = {0018-9162},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-00-01},

urldate = {2013-00-01},

journal = {IEEE Computer},

volume = {46},

number = {4},

pages = {30-37},

publisher = {IEEE Computer Society},

abstract = {Combining a wide-area situational awareness (WASA) methodological framework with a set of requirements for awareness construction can help in the development and commissioning of future WASA cyberdefense solutions},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{1750,

title = {Towards Privacy Protection in Smart Grid},

author = {Sherali Zeadally and Al-Sakib Khan Pathan and Cristina Alcaraz and Mohamad Badra},

url = {/wp-content/papers/1750.pdf},

doi = {10.1007/s11277-012-0939-1},

issn = {0929-6212},

year  = {2012},

date = {2012-11-01},

urldate = {2012-11-01},

journal = {Wireless Personal Communications},

volume = {73},

pages = {23-50},

publisher = {Springer},

abstract = {The smart grid is an electronically controlled electrical grid that connects power generation, transmission, distribution, and consumers using information communication technologies. One of the key characteristics of the smart grid is its support for bi-directional information flow between the consumer of electricity and the utility provider. This two-way interaction allows electricity to be generated in real-time based on consumers’ demands and power requests. As a result, consumer privacy becomes an important concern when collecting energy usage data with the deployment and adoption of smart grid technologies. To protect such sensitive information it is imperative that privacy protection mechanisms be used to protect the privacy of smart grid users. We present an analysis of recently proposed smart grid privacy solutions and identify their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their implementation complexity, efficiency, robustness, and simplicity.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{AlcarazR2012,

title = {Selecting key management schemes for WSN applications},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez and Rodrigo Roman and Hsiao-Hwa Chen},

url = {/wp-content/papers/AlcarazR2012.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167404812001034},

doi = {10.1016/j.cose.2012.07.002},

issn = {0167-4048},

year  = {2012},

date = {2012-11-01},

urldate = {2012-11-01},

journal = {Computers \& Security},

volume = {31},

number = {38},

pages = {956\textendash966},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Key management in wireless sensor networks (WSN) is an active research topic. Due to the fact that a large number of key management schemes (KMS) have been proposed in the literature, it is not easy for a sensor network designer to know exactly which KMS best fits in a particular WSN application. In this article, we offer a comprehensive review on how the application requirements and the properties of various key management schemes influence each other. Based on this review, we show that the KMS plays a critical role in determining the security performance of a WSN network with given application requirements. We also develop a method that allows the network designers to select the most suitable KMS for a specific WSN network setting. In addition, the article also addresses the issues on the current state-of-the-art research on the KMS for homogeneous (i.e. non-hierarchical) networks to provide solutions for establishing link-layer keys in various WSN applications and scenarios.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Alcaraz2011,

title = {An Early Warning System based on Reputation for Energy Control Systems},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Carmen Fernandez-Gago and Javier Lopez},

url = {/wp-content/papers/Alcaraz2011.pdf},

doi = {10.1109/TSG.2011.2161498},

issn = {1949-3053},

year  = {2011},

date = {2011-11-01},

urldate = {2011-11-01},

journal = {IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid},

volume = {2},

number = {4},

pages = {827-834},

publisher = {IEEE},

abstract = {Most of energy control or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are very dependent on advanced technologies and on traditional security mechanisms for protecting the a system against anomalous events. Security mechanisms are not enough to be used in critical systems, since they can only detect anomalous events occurring at a certain moment in time. For this reason it becomes of paramount importance the usage of intelligent systems with capability for preventing anomalous situations and reacting against them on time. This type of systems are, for example, Early Warning Systems (EWS). In this paper, we propose an EWS based on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) (under the ISA100.11a standard) and reputation for controling the network behaviour. The WSN are organized into clusters where a Cluster Head (CH) is designated. This CH will contain a Reputation Manager Module. The usability of this approach is also analyzed considering a Smart Grid scenario. keywords = Critical Information Infrastructures, Sensor Networks, Early Warning Systems, Reputation, SCADA Systems, Smart Grid.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Alcaraz2010a,

title = {A Security Analysis for Wireless Sensor Mesh Networks in Highly Critical Systems},

author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez},

url = {/wp-content/papers/Alcaraz2010a.pdf

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/srchabstract.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=5443456\&queryText%253DC.+Alcaraz%2526openedRefinements%253D*%2526searchField%253DSearch+All\&fromGateway=true},

doi = {10.1109/TSMCC.2010.2045373},

issn = {1094-6977},

year  = {2010},

date = {2010-07-01},

urldate = {2010-07-01},

journal = {IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews},

volume = {40},

number = {4},

pages = {419-428},

publisher = {IEEE},

abstract = {Nowadays, critical control systems are a fundamental component contributing to the overall performance of critical infrastructures in our society, most of which belong to the industrial sector. These complex systems include in their design different types of information and communication technology systems, such as wireless (mesh) sensor networks, to carry out control processes in real time. This fact has meant that several communication standards, such as Zigbee PRO, WirelessHART, and ISA100.11a, have been specified to ensure coexistence, reliability, and security in their communications. The main purpose of this paper has been to review these three standards and analyze their security. We have identified a set of threats and potential attacks in their routing protocols, and we consequently provide recommendations and countermeasures to help Industry protect its infrastructures.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}