Research Projects

Cyberattacks on healthcare systems and critical infrastructure, such as the Ransomware attack on AIIMS server (2022), ransomware attacks on colonial pipeline (2021), and Ukraine power grid attacks (2015, 2016), highlight the growing complexity of securing Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). These incidents exposed vulnerabilities in industrial control systems, which could be exploited to disrupt physical operations, leading to widespread outages and significant economic losses. Also, because of the specific needs of availability of these systems, even after discovering the vulnerabilities and despite the availability of the countermeasure/defenses, it is not possible to directly apply the defenses. Because complexity of securing CPS arises from how cyber vulnerabilities directly affect cyber and physical systems, with a limited window for deploying countermeasures during an ongoing attack. A countermeasure may break the system and directly impact the core requirement of availability. Not all defenses are equally effective or suitable in every scenario. Countermeasures, such as network segmentation, anomaly detection, intrusion prevention systems, patching vulnerabilities, and isolating compromised devices etc. , all come with trade-offs in terms of complexity, deployment time, resource requirements, and attack mitigation. For instance, security patches may require system downtime, which could worsen the attack’s consequences. Thus, the challenge lies in rapidly evaluating the impact of each countermeasure, considering operational constraints, attack nature, and real-time monitoring capabilities. The goal is to minimize downtime and disruption while ensuring defense effectiveness, requiring real-time decision-making and prioritization. This project aims to address these challenges by developing a Digital Twin (DT) Testbed to assess the impact of cyberattacks and validate countermeasures. We refer to DT for cybersecurity as SecDT. A digital twin creates a virtual replica of the real CPS, enabling safe experimentation with cyberattacks and countermeasures without disrupting operations. While studies have explored the use of SecDTs in CPS optimization, their application in cybersecurity remains underdeveloped. Existing research has not integrated the ability to simulate complex cyberattacks in real-time across as well as possible new attacks consisting of both cyber and physical dimensions of CPS. The proposed cybersecurity framework focuses on real-time threat assessment, attack impact analysis, and countermeasure validation. The testbed will simulate scenarios, such as the Ransomware cyber-attack on AIIMS server, to evaluate various defenses and balance their effectiveness with operational constraints. The framework consists of three core modules: Attack Simulation Module: Simulates cyberattacks and analyzes their impact. The system will be validated using small-scale CPS setups and simulations of critical infrastructures, including smart grids.