Networked control systems (NCS) are at the base of many important processes in our society. These systems control our cyber-infrastructure (power grid, water distribution, oil and gas pipelines) and critical systems such as airports. The increasing requirements of efficiency are pushing designers to remove the traditional 'air gaps' placed between control system networks and the rest of the interconnected world. Features such as remote administration and integration with business procedures are becoming commonplace. However, these changes are also opening the possibility that malicious remote users could compromise the system. The tight connection with a physical process typical of NCS makes difficult the direct application of traditional techniques for the evaluation of system security. The research projects in this area focus on providing methods for performing security assessment on the control systems, including the component of the power grid.
The current research is funded by Boeing with the Boeing Trusted Software Project and NSF through the TCIP project.