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Grid Cyber-Security Strategy in an Attacker-Defender Model

Journal Article · · Cryptography
 [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology
  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
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The progression of cyber-attacks on the cyber-physical system is analyzed by the Probabilistic, Learning Attacker, and Dynamic Defender (PLADD) model. Although our research does apply to all cyber-physical systems, we focus on power grid infrastructure. The PLADD model evaluates the effectiveness of moving target defense (MTD) techniques. We consider the power grid attack scenarios in the AND configurations and OR configurations. In addition, we consider, for the first time ever, power grid attack scenarios involving both AND configurations and OR configurations simultaneously. Cyber-security managers can use the strategy introduced in this manuscript to optimize their defense strategies. Specifically, our research provides insight into when to reset access controls (such as passwords, internet protocol addresses, and session keys), to minimize the probability of a successful attack. Our mathematical proof for the OR configuration of multiple PLADD games shows that it is best if all access controls are reset simultaneously. For the AND configuration, our mathematical proof shows that it is best (in terms of minimizing the attacker's average probability of success) that the resets are equally spaced apart. We introduce a novel concept called hierarchical parallel PLADD system to cover additional attack scenarios that require combinations of AND and OR configurations.

Research Organization:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER); Sandia National Laboratory
Grant/Contract Number:
CR0000004
OSTI ID:
1997527
Journal Information:
Cryptography, Journal Name: Cryptography Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 5; ISSN 2410-387X
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Jump over ASLR: Attacking branch predictors to bypass ASLR conference October 2016
Bad Data Injection Attack Propagation in Cyber-Physical Power Delivery Systems conference September 2018
Grid Cyber-Security Strategy in an Attacker-Defender Model conference March 2020
A symmetric address translation approach for a network layer moving target defense to secure power grid networks conference September 2017
Game Theory: Models, Numerical Methods and Applications journal January 2014
Brute-force and dictionary attack on hashed real-world passwords conference May 2018

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Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
attack graph
cyber-physical security
cyber-physical systems
moving target defenses
periodic reset