PI: Parvathinathan Venkitasubramaniam
Co-PI(s): Rick Blum, Javad Khazaei, Farrah Moazeni
University: Lehigh University
Industry partner: Honeywell Technologies
There is a complex web of interacting systems with joint cyber-physical functionality in the context of building management which are in turn dependent on the particular operational technology relevant to the particular domain of the building operation. The interaction between these networked systems —power, heat, access control, etc.—implies that planning, operation, and maintenance of these utilities in the building are linked through physical and cyber flows, and the interacting human consumers and operators. A sophisticated cyber attack on such interdependent systems can have a devastating impact on the functioning of the building ecosystem. The primary research objective of this proposal is to build a cyber-physical simulation platform that facilitates the study of cybersecurity challenges of buildings arising in such interconnected systems. The project will leverage the prior experience of the participants in the area of cyber-physical security in multiple domains including electricity grid, natural gas networks, water distribution systems, and demand response for residential consumers. Using the developed platform, a framework for vulnerability assessment will be developed by crafting sophisticated attacks that exploit the cyber-physical and human dependencies in the interconnected systems. Such attacks include but are not limited to (a) false data injections on building energy-consuming units (HVAC system, combined heat and power (CHP), or control systems, (b) blackout attacks targeting assets internal to the building or external infrastructural assets by cutting off power, and (c) attacks compromising building control system computers. The platform will integrate control and decision-making mechanisms for the management of multiple services in the building system and will be used to develop data scientific methods to detect attacks that do not exhibit known patterns. The team will work together with an Industry partner, Honeywell Technologies, towards developing abstractions that capture the realistic operational dependencies in the context of building systems. Specific application domains relevant to the Industry partner would be considered to test the viability of the platform in addressing practical cybersecurity challenges.