@article {cazorla2016cyber, title = {Cyber Stealth Attacks in Critical Information Infrastructures}, journal = {IEEE Systems Journal}, volume = {12}, year = {2018}, month = {06/2018}, pages = {1778-1792}, publisher = {IEEE}, abstract = {

Current Critical Infrastructures (CIs) are complex interconnected industrial systems that, in recent years, have incorporated information and communications technologies such as connection to the Internet and commercial off-the-shelf components. This makes them easier to operate and maintain, but exposes them to the threats and attacks that inundate conventional networks and systems. This paper contains a comprehensive study on the main stealth attacks that threaten CIs, with a special focus on Critical Information Infrastructures (CIIs). This type of attack is characterized by an adversary who is able to finely tune his actions to avoid detection while pursuing his objectives. To provide a complete analysis of the scope and potential dangers of stealth attacks we determine and analyze their stages and range, and we design a taxonomy to illustrate the threats to CIs, offering an overview of the applicable countermeasures against these attacks. From our analysis we understand that these types of attacks, due to the interdependent nature of CIs, pose a grave danger to critical systems where the threats can easily cascade down to the interconnected systems.\ 

}, keywords = {Control systems, Countermeasures, Critical Infrastructures, Detection and Protection, Stealth Attacks}, issn = {1932-8184}, doi = {10.1109/JSYST.2015.2487684}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7445136\&isnumber=8350419}, author = {Lorena Cazorla and Cristina Alcaraz and Javier Lopez} } @incollection {1590, title = {Cyber-Physical Systems for Wide-Area Situational Awareness}, booktitle = {Cyber-Physical Systems: Foundations, Principles and Applications}, number = {Intelligent Data-Centric Systems}, year = {2017}, month = {2017}, pages = {305 - 317}, publisher = {Academic Press}, organization = {Academic Press}, chapter = {20}, address = {Boston}, abstract = {

Abstract Cyber-physical systems (CPSs), integrated in critical infrastructures, could provide the minimal services that traditional situational awareness (SA) systems demand. However, their application in SA\ solutions for the protection of large control distributions against unforeseen faults may be insufficient. Dynamic protection measures have to be provided not only to locally detect unplanned deviations but also to prevent, respond, and restore from these deviations. The provision of these services as an integral part of the SA\ brings about a new research field known as wide-area situational awareness (WASA), highly dependent on CPSs\ for control from anywhere across multiple interconnections, and at any time. Thus, we review the state-of-the art of this new paradigm, exploring the different preventive and corrective measures considering the heterogeneity of CPSs, resulting in a guideline for the construction of automated WASA\ systems.

}, keywords = {Control systems, Critical Infrastructure Protection, cyber-physical systems, Detection, Response, restoration, Wide-Area Situational Awareness}, isbn = {978-0-12-803801-7}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803801-7.00020-1}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Lorena Cazorla and Javier Lopez} } @inproceedings {931, title = {Context-Awareness using Anomaly-based Detectors for Smart Grid Domains}, booktitle = {9th International Conference on Risks and Security of Internet and Systems }, volume = {8924}, year = {2015}, month = {04/2015}, pages = {17-34}, publisher = {Springer International Publishing}, organization = {Springer International Publishing}, address = {Trento}, abstract = {

Anomaly-based detection applied in strongly interdependent systems, like Smart Grids, has become one of the most challenging research areas in recent years. Early detection of anomalies so as to detect and prevent unexpected faults or stealthy threats is attracting a great deal of attention from the scientific community because it offers potential solutions for context-awareness. These solutions can also help explain the conditions leading up\ to a given situation and help determine the degree of its severity. However, not all the existing approaches within the literature are equally effective in covering the needs of a particular scenario. It is necessary to explore the control requirements of the domains that comprise a Smart Grid, identify, and even select, those approaches according to these requirements and the intrinsic conditions related to the application context, such as technological heterogeneity and complexity. Therefore, this paper analyses the functional features of existing anomaly-based approaches so as to adapt them, according to the aforementioned conditions. The result of this investigation is a guideline for the construction of preventive solutions that will help improve the context-awareness in the control of Smart Grid domains in the near future.

}, keywords = {Context-Awareness, Control systems, Prevention, Smart Grid}, isbn = {978-3-319-17126-5}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-17127-2_2}, url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007\%2F978-3-319-17127-2_2$\#$}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Lorena Cazorla and Gerardo Fernandez} }