Analysis and Design of Secure Large-Scale Networked Control System

Networked Control Systems (NCSs) are an integral part of many critical infrastructures such as power grids, transportation, and production systems.

The resilient operation of such large-scale NCS against cyber-attacks is critical for society, and risk management presents an effective framework for addressing these security challanges. In general, the risk management framework encompasses two steps: risk assessment and risk mitigation.

The risk assessment step aims to quantify the risk, whereas the risk mitigation step focuses on designing mitigation strategies. In this project, we leverage the risk management framework to design NCSs that are resilient to cyber-attacks. In particular, we consider an adversary injecting false data into the communication channels of a NCS.

Then, this research project aims to address the following three research questions. Firstly, we aim to model an adversary that is reflective of real-world attack scenarios. Secondly, we aim to develop analysis algorithms that quantify the performance loss caused by such adversaries.

There are subtle interplays between the adversarial strategies considered to model an adversary and the resulting complexity of the analysis algorithms. This project aims to carefully examine these interplays to develop scalable analysis algorithms for large-scale NCS.

Finally, we aim to develop design algorithms to render large-scale systems resilient to cyber-attacks, fostering the development of secure critical infrastructures.