MAster assignment
Data collection and Modelling for Cyber Security Digital Twin (CDT)
TYPE : MASTER CS
Period: Start date: as soon as possible
Student: Unassigned
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Abstract:
Digital Twin, consisting of a real system, its virtual replica and bi-directional data flows between these two are seen as a potential solution to improve the cyber security of cyber-physical systems [1-3]. Even though research on Digital Twins has significantly increased, the research topic is still relatively new, and many questions related to practical implementations still require further research. This thesis aims to explore how and what data from the cyber-physical systems could be used to construct models forming the core of the system’s cyber security digital twin and enabling security functionalities. The proposal includes defining a security use case, in addition to identifying the required models for a digital twin and expected output knowledge for the selected security case. Moreover, practical implementation of a simple example system, collection of relevant information from this real system, generation of the digital twin models and possibly visualisation of the output models utilising real-time data collected from the example system is expected.
Literature Review:
- Conduct a comprehensive review of existing literature on modelling cyber-physical systems for digital twin
- Explore different types of data collected and models generated, which form digital twins
- Identify the relevant models and data sources for the digital twin capable of addressing the selected security use case
Security Use Case Definition:
- Define a simple security use case for a simple example cyber-security system. Some examples of the security use cases that could be considered, not limited to, are for example, attack/intrusion detection, vulnerability detection, countermeasure assessment or cyber-threat intelligence sharing.
- Define the validation scenario for the selected use case. Depending on the selected security use case, this could include, for example, defining an attack scenario or utilising external common vulnerabilities databases (CVES) in detecting vulnerabilities or assessing countermeasures.
System Design:
- Design a simple cyber-physical system with data acquisition functionalities relevant to the selected security use case.
- Define the required models and data sources for generating the models for a digital twin and the selected security use case.
- Specify the data collection and model generation methods used to generate a digital twin of the example system, providing the functionalities required by the selected security use case.
Practical Evaluation:
- Implement the cyber security digital twin enhanced example system capable of providing the functionalities for the selected security use case.
- Consider the requirements and constraints of data exchange between the example system and its digital twin, such as network load, latency, fidelity, security, synchronisation, data transformation, etc.
Discussion and Future Directions:
- Analyze the findings from the literature review, system design and practical evaluation.
- Discuss the trade-offs and challenges that need to be considered when designing and implementing a cyber security digital twin enhanced system. Some examples of such are security of the digital twin, model generation, interoperability, synchronisation, data governance, memory, network and processing requirements, especially in complex cyber-physical systems.
- Identify areas for further research and improvement, such as load-balancing, knowledge sharing, application to complex systems-of-systems, other security use cases, etc.
Expected Outcome:
The expected outcome of this research is a simple cyber security digital twin enhanced example system providing functionalities required by the selected security use case. The thesis will provide insights into the data acquisition and modelling of cyber-physical systems required to construct a cyber security digital twin capable of providing security-related functionalities. The findings will contribute to developing practical solutions for generating cyber security digital twins for cyber-physical systems.
References:
- D. Holmes, M. Papathanasaki, L. Maglaras, M. A. Ferrag, S. Nepal, and H. Janicke, ‘Digital Twins and Cyber Security – solution or challenge?’, in 2021 6th South-East Europe Design Automation, Computer Engineering, Computer Networks and Social Media Conference (SEEDA-CECNSM), Preveza, Greece: IEEE, Sep. 2021, pp. 1–8. doi: 10.1109/SEEDA-CECNSM53056.2021.9566277.
- R. Faleiro, L. Pan, S. R. Pokhrel, and R. Doss, ‘Digital Twin for Cybersecurity: Towards Enhancing Cyber Resilience’, in Broadband Communications, Networks, and Systems, W. Xiang, F. Han, and T. K. Phan, Eds., in Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022, pp. 57–76. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-93479-8_4.
- P. Empl and G. Pernul, ‘Digital-Twin-Based Security Analytics for the Internet of Things’, Information, vol. 14, no. 2, Art. no. 2, Feb. 2023, doi: 10.3390/info14020095.