Citation
YuLun Huang, Alvaro Cardenas, Saurabh Amin, Song-Zyun Lin , Hsin-Yi Tsai, Shankar Sastry. "Understanding the Physical and Economic Consequences of Attacks Against Control Systems.". International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 2(3):72-83, October 2009.

Abstract
This paper describes an approach for developing threat models for attacks on control systems. These models are useful for analyzing the actions taken by an attacker who gains access to control system assets and for evaluating the effects of the attacker's actions on the physical process being controlled. The paper proposes models for integrity attacks and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and evaluates the physical and economic consequences of the attacks on a chemical reactor system. The analysis reveals two important points. First, a DoS attack does not have a significant effect when the reactor is in the steady state; however, combining the DoS attaack with a relatively innocuous integrity attack rapidly causes the reactor to move to an unsafe state. Second, an attack that seeks to increase the operational cost of the chemical reactor involves a radically different strategy than an attack on plant safety (i.e., one that seeks to shut down the reactor or cause an explosion).

Electronic downloads

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcip.2009.06.001

• HTML

  YuLun Huang, Alvaro Cardenas, Saurabh Amin, Song-Zyun Lin ,
  Hsin-Yi Tsai, Shankar Sastry. <a
  href="http://chess.eecs.berkeley.edu/pubs/599.html"
  >Understanding the Physical and Economic Consequences of
  Attacks Against Control Systems.</a>,
  <i>International Journal of Critical Infrastructure
  Protection</i>, 2(3):72-83, October 2009.

• Plain text

  YuLun Huang, Alvaro Cardenas, Saurabh Amin, Song-Zyun Lin ,
  Hsin-Yi Tsai, Shankar Sastry. "Understanding the
  Physical and Economic Consequences of Attacks Against
  Control Systems.". <i>International Journal of
  Critical Infrastructure Protection</i>, 2(3):72-83,
  October 2009.

• BibTeX

  @article{HuangCardenasAminLinTsaiSastry09_UnderstandingPhysicalEconomicConsequencesOfAttacksAgainst,
      author = {YuLun Huang and Alvaro Cardenas and Saurabh Amin
                and Song-Zyun Lin  and Hsin-Yi Tsai and Shankar
                Sastry},
      title = {Understanding the Physical and Economic
                Consequences of Attacks Against Control Systems.},
      journal = {International Journal of Critical Infrastructure
                Protection},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {72-83},
      month = {October},
      year = {2009},
      abstract = {This paper describes an approach for developing
                threat models for attacks on control systems.
                These models are useful for analyzing the actions
                taken by an attacker who gains access to control
                system assets and for evaluating the effects of
                the attacker's actions on the physical process
                being controlled. The paper proposes models for
                integrity attacks and denial-of-service (DoS)
                attacks, and evaluates the physical and economic
                consequences of the attacks on a chemical reactor
                system. The analysis reveals two important points.
                First, a DoS attack does not have a significant
                effect when the reactor is in the steady state;
                however, combining the DoS attaack with a
                relatively innocuous integrity attack rapidly
                causes the reactor to move to an unsafe state.
                Second, an attack that seeks to increase the
                operational cost of the chemical reactor involves
                a radically different strategy than an attack on
                plant safety (i.e., one that seeks to shut down
                the reactor or cause an explosion).},
      URL = {http://chess.eecs.berkeley.edu/pubs/599.html}
  }
  

Posted by Alvaro Cardenas on 16 Jun 2009.
Groups: chess
For additional information, see the Publications FAQ or contact webmaster at chess eecs berkeley edu.