@article {Flamini2022, title = {Towards Trustworthy Autonomous Systems: Taxonomies and Future Perspectives}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing}, year = {2022}, publisher = {IEEE}, abstract = {

The class of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) includes cyber-physical systems leveraging on self-x technologies that make them capable to learn, adapt to changes, and reason under uncertainties in possibly critical applications and evolving environments. In the last decade, there has been a growing interest in enabling artificial intelligence technologies, such as advanced machine learning, new threats, such as adversarial attacks, and certification challenges, due to the lack of sufficient explainability. However, in order to be trustworthy, those systems also need to be dependable, secure, and resilient according to well-established taxonomies, methodologies, and tools. Therefore, several aspects need to be addressed for TAS, ranging from proper taxonomic classification to the identification of research opportunities and challenges. Given such a context, in this paper address relevant taxonomies and research perspectives in the field of TAS. We start from basic definitions and move towards future perspectives, regulations, and emerging technologies supporting development and operation of TAS.

}, keywords = {Arti cial Intelligence, Cyber- Resilience, Cybersecurity, Dependability, Intelligent Systems, Trustworthy Autonomous Systems}, issn = {2168-6750}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/TETC.2022.3227113}, url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9979717/authors$\#$authors}, author = {Francesco Flammini and Cristina Alcaraz and Emanuele Bellini and Stefano Marrone and Javier Lopez and Andrea Bondavalli} } @article {alcaraz2019a, title = {Covert Channels-based Stealth Attacks in Industry 4.0}, journal = {IEEE Systems Journal.}, volume = {13}, year = {2019}, month = {12/2019}, pages = {3980-3988}, publisher = {IEEE}, abstract = {

Industry 4.0 advent opens several cyber-threats scenarios originally designed for classic information technology, drawing the attention to the serious risks for the modern industrial control networks.\ To cope with this problem, in this paper we address the security issues related to covert channels applied to industrial networks, identifying the new vulnerability points when information technologies converge with operational technologies such as edge computing infrastructures.\ Specifically, we define two signaling strategies where we exploit the Modbus/TCP protocol as target to set up a covert channel. Once the threat channel is established, passive and active offensive attacks (i.e. data exfiltration and command an control, respectively) are further exploited by implementing and testing them on a real Industrial Internet of Things testbed.\ The experimental results highlight the potential damage of such specific threats, and the easy extrapolation of the attacks to other types of channels in order to show the new risks for Industry 4.0. Related to this, we discuss some countermeasures to offer an overview of possible mitigation and defense measures.

}, issn = {1932-8184}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/JSYST.2019.2912308}, url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8715420?source=authoralert}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Giuseppe Bernieri and Federica Pascucci and Javier Lopez and Roberto Setola} } @proceedings {1591, title = {Proceedings of the 12th ACM Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad Hoc, Sensor, \& Ubiquitous Networks, PE-WASUN 2015}, journal = {12th ACM Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad Hoc, Sensor, \& Ubiquitous Networks, PE-WASUN 2015}, year = {2015}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {Cancun, Mexico}, isbn = {978-1-4503-3759-5}, url = {http://dblp2.uni-trier.de/db/conf/pe-wasun/pe-wasun2015.html}, author = {M{\'o}nica Aguilar-Igartua and Carolina Tripp Barba and Cristina Alcaraz} } @article {1750, title = {Towards Privacy Protection in Smart Grid}, journal = {Wireless Personal Communications}, volume = {73}, year = {2012}, month = {Nov 2013}, 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{\textquoteright} 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 = {authentication, Confidentiality, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Energy, privacy, Smart Grid}, isbn = {0929-6212}, issn = {0929-6212}, doi = {10.1007/s11277-012-0939-1}, url = {Wireless Personal Communications}, author = {S. Zeadally and A. Pathan and Cristina Alcaraz and M. Badra} } @inproceedings {Alcaraz2010b, title = {Early Warning System for Cascading Effect Control in Energy Control Systems}, booktitle = {5th International conference on Critical Information Infrastructures Security (CRITIS{\textquoteright}10)}, series = {LNCS}, volume = {6712}, year = {2010}, month = {September}, pages = {55-67}, publisher = {Springer}, organization = {Springer}, address = {Athens, Greece}, abstract = {

A way of controlling a cascading effect caused by a failure or a threat in a critical system is using intelligent mechanisms capable of predicting anomalous behaviours and also capable of reacting against them in advance. These mechanisms are known as Early Warning Systems (EWS) and this will be precisely the main topic of this paper. Specially, we present an EWS design based on a Wireless Sensor Network (using the ISA100.11a standard) that constantly supervise the application context. This EWS is also based on forensic techniques to provide dynamic learning capacities. As a result, this new approach will aid to provide a reliable control of incidences by offering a dynamic alarm management, identification of the most suitable field operator to attend an alarm, reporting of causes and responsible operators, and learning from new anomalous situations.

}, keywords = {Cascading Effect, Early Warning System, Energy Control Systems, Forensic Techniques, SCADA Systems, Wireless Sensor Network}, isbn = {978-3-642-21693-0}, issn = {0302-9743}, url = {http://critis.net/2010/}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Angel Balastegui and Javier Lopez} } @article {Alcaraz2008a, title = {Gesti{\'o}n segura de redes SCADA}, journal = {Nuevas tendencias en gesti{\'o}n de redes, Nov{\'a}tica}, number = {196}, year = {2008}, month = {December}, pages = {20-25}, publisher = {CEPIS}, abstract = {

En el momento que se introduce en el mercado nuevas tecnolog\ías basadas en entornos distribuidos comienzan a surgir en paralelo nuevos problemas de seguridad en los sistemas SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), los cuales monitorizan y gestionan otras infraestructuras de gran complejidad y escala. Un fallo o una interrupci\ón en uno de sus componentes podr\ía suponer un impacto negativo sobre la funcionalidad de otras infraestructuras, por lo que se hace necesario realizar frecuentes an\álisis de seguridad para as\í mantener actualizado el conocimiento y proveer recomendaciones y/o soluciones para mitigar o evitar futuras ocurrencias, garantizando una gesti\ón de red fiable y siempre disponible.

}, keywords = {An{\'a}lisis de Seguridad, Gesti{\'o}n de red SCADA, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems}, issn = {0211-2124}, url = {http://www.ati.es/novatica/indice.html$\#$196}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Gerardo Fernandez and Rodrigo Roman and Angel Balastegui and Javier Lopez} } @article {Alcaraz2008b, title = {Secure Management of SCADA Networks}, journal = {Novatica, New Trends in Network Management}, volume = {9}, number = {6}, year = {2008}, month = {December}, pages = {22-28}, publisher = {Cepis UPGRADE}, abstract = {

When a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system monitors and manages other complex infrastructures through the use of distributed technologies, it becomes a critical infrastructure by itself: A failure or disruption in any of its components could implicate a serious impact on the performance of the other infrastructures. The connection with other systems makes a SCADA system more vulnerable against attacks, generating new security problems. As a result, it is essential to perform diverse security analysis frequently in order to keep an updated knowledge and to provide recommendations and/or solutions to mitigate or avoid anomalous events. This will facilitate the existence of a suitable, reliable, and available control network.

}, keywords = {SCADA network management, Security Analysis, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems}, issn = {1684-5285}, url = {http://www.upgrade-cepis.org/issues/2008/6/up9-6Alcaraz.pdf}, author = {Cristina Alcaraz and Gerardo Fernandez and Rodrigo Roman and Angel Balastegui and Javier Lopez} }