research-article

Authenticated encryption for time-sensitive critical infrastructure

Authors:

Colin FidgeAuthors Info & Claims

ACSW '17: Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference

Article No.: 19, Pages 1 - 10

https://doi.org/10.1145/3014812.3014832

Published: 31 January 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Encryption is the primary tool for protecting information security, but cyber-physical systems that interact directly with critical infrastructure, in applications such as power, water and transport, typically use no encryption for their control messages at all. This is because computer systems that interface to physical devices are subject to strict realtime constraints and it is widely assumed that the computational overheads of encryption are too high in such situations. Indeed, some international standards for critical infrastructure systems explicitly recommend against using encryption.

Here we present experimental results proving that data encryption can be used to defend cyber-physical systems within the timing constraints imposed by international standards for data communications in electricity distribution substations, even when using conventional hardware and software. To ensure the validity of the results we created a testbed composed of industry-standard devices, and to guarantee the experiments' accuracy we measured data packet timing using specialised hardware synchronised to GPS time. Our results provide the first detailed analysis of the time taken to encrypt, transmit, and decrypt a critical infrastructure protocol using a stream cipher in a realistic physical environment.

Furthermore, in safety-critical systems data confidentiality is not the only information security concern. Data integrity must be preserved as well. We therefore show that such timing results are possible even when using an authenticated encryption algorithm, which provides both data confidentiality and integrity, thereby paving the way for deploying strong encryption technologies in cyber-physical systems.

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Cited By

Niu XCook MPezaros D(2024)Examining the Suitability of Stream Ciphers for Modbus-TCP Encryption on Resource Constrained DevicesProceedings of the 17th European Workshop on Systems Security10.1145/3642974.3652287(51-57)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3642974.3652287
Zahid MInayat IDaneva MMehmood Z(2021)Security risks in cyber physical systems—A systematic mapping studyJournal of Software: Evolution and Process10.1002/smr.2346Online publication date: 12-Apr-2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.2346
Toland TKollmannsperger SBrewton JCraft W(2017)Using Sports Plays to Configure Honeypots Environments to form a Virtual Security ShieldComputer and Network Security Essentials10.1007/978-3-319-58424-9_11(189-204)Online publication date: 13-Aug-2017
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58424-9_11

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cover image ACM Other conferences

ACSW '17: Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Science Week Multiconference

January 2017

615 pages

ISBN:9781450347686

DOI:10.1145/3014812

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

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Published: 31 January 2017

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ACSW 2017

ACSW 2017: Australasian Computer Science Week 2017

January 30 - February 3, 2017

Geelong, Australia

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ACSW '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 78 of 156 submissions, 50%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 204 of 424 submissions, 48%

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Cited By

Niu XCook MPezaros D(2024)Examining the Suitability of Stream Ciphers for Modbus-TCP Encryption on Resource Constrained DevicesProceedings of the 17th European Workshop on Systems Security10.1145/3642974.3652287(51-57)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3642974.3652287
Zahid MInayat IDaneva MMehmood Z(2021)Security risks in cyber physical systems—A systematic mapping studyJournal of Software: Evolution and Process10.1002/smr.2346Online publication date: 12-Apr-2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/smr.2346
Toland TKollmannsperger SBrewton JCraft W(2017)Using Sports Plays to Configure Honeypots Environments to form a Virtual Security ShieldComputer and Network Security Essentials10.1007/978-3-319-58424-9_11(189-204)Online publication date: 13-Aug-2017
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58424-9_11

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