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PublicationSecurity Vulnerabilities in 5G Non-Stand-Alone Networks: A Systematic Analysis and Attack Taxonomy( 2024)5G networks, pivotal for our digital mobile societies, are transitioning from 4G to 5G Stand-Alone (SA) networks. However, during this transition, 5G Non-Stand-Alone (NSA) networks are widely used. This paper examines potential security vulnerabilities in 5G NSA networks. Through an extensive literature review, we identify known 4G attacks that can theoretically be applied to 5G NSA. We organize these attacks into a structured taxonomy. Our findings reveal that 5G NSA networks may offer a false sense of security, as most security and privacy improvements are concentrated in 5G SA networks. To underscore this concern, we implement three attacks with severe consequences and successfully validate them on various commercially available smartphones. Notably, one of these attacks, the IMSI Leak, consistently exposes user information with no apparent security mitigation in 5G NSA networks. This highlights the ease of tracking individuals on current 5G networks.
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PublicationOn specification-based cyber-attack detection in smart grids( 2022)The transformation of power grids into intelligent cyber-physical systems brings numerous benefits, but also significantly increases the surface for cyber-attacks, demanding appropriate countermeasures. However, the development, validation, and testing of data-driven countermeasures against cyber-attacks, such as machine learning-based detection approaches, lack important data from real-world cyber incidents. Unlike attack data from real-world cyber incidents, infrastructure knowledge and standards are accessible through expert and domain knowledge. Our proposed approach uses domain knowledge to define the behavior of a smart grid under non-attack conditions and detect attack patterns and anomalies. Using a graph-based specification formalism, we combine cross-domain knowledge that enables the generation of whitelisting rules not only for statically defined protocol fields but also for communication flows and technical operation boundaries. Finally, we evaluate our specification-based intrusion detection system against various attack scenarios and assess detection quality and performance. In particular, we investigate a data manipulation attack in a future-orientated use case of an IEC 60870-based SCADA system that controls distributed energy resources in the distribution grid. Our approach can detect severe data manipulation attacks with high accuracy in a timely and reliable manner.
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PublicationCybersecurity in Power Grids: Challenges and Opportunities( 2021)Increasing volatilities within power transmission and distribution force power grid operators to amplify their use of communication infrastructure to monitor and control their grid. The resulting increase in communication creates a larger attack surface for malicious actors. Indeed, cyber attacks on power grids have already succeeded in causing temporary, large-scale blackouts in the recent past. In this paper, we analyze the communication infrastructure of power grids to derive resulting fundamental challenges of power grids with respect to cybersecurity. Based on these challenges, we identify a broad set of resulting attack vectors and attack scenarios that threaten the security of power grids. To address these challenges, we propose to rely on a defense-in-depth strategy, which encompasses measures for (i) device and application security, (ii) network security, and (iii) physical security, as well as (iv) policies, procedures, and awareness. For each of these categories, we distill and discuss a comprehensive set of state-of-the art approaches, as well as identify further opportunities to strengthen cybersecurity in interconnected power grids.
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PublicationFinding and analysing energy research funding data: The EnArgus system( 2021)
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PublicationFactDAG: Formalizing Data Interoperability in an Internet of Production( 2020)In the production industry, the volume, variety, and velocity of data as well as the number of deployed protocols increase exponentially due to the influences of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) advances. While hundreds of isolated solutions exist to utilize these data, e.g., optimizing processes or monitoring machine conditions, the lack of a unified data handling and exchange mechanism hinders the implementation of approaches to improve the quality of decisions and processes in such an interconnected environment. The vision of an Internet of Production promises the establishment of a Worldwide Lab, where data from every process in the network can be utilized, even interorganizational and across domains. While numerous existing approaches consider interoperability from an interface and communication system perspective, fundamental questions of data and information interoperability remain insufficiently addressed. In this article, we identify ten key issues, derived from three distinctive real-world use cases that hinder large-scale data interoperability for industrial processes. Based on these issues, we derive a set of five key requirements for future (IoT) data layers, building upon the FAIR data principles. We propose to address them by creating FactDAG, a conceptual data layer model for maintaining a provenance-based, directed acyclic graph of facts, inspired by successful distributed version-control and collaboration systems. Eventually, such a standardization should greatly shape the future of interoperability in an interconnected production industry.
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PublicationSituational awareness, information exchange and operational control for civilian EU missions( 2019)The European Union conducts a common security and defence policy (CSDP) that follows an integrated approach to external conflict and crisis. One means of the CSDP are external civilian missions, in some cases operating with military missions in the same operational environments. In order to better support the conduct of civilian missions, a Horizon 2020 project was awarded to propose design options for a ""Situational Awareness, Information Exchange and Operational Control Platform"", in short an ""operational control platform"" (OCP). The design of the OCP raises challenges that are relevant not only for European CSDP missions but also for crisis management operations in general, namely questions of situational awareness, interoperability, security and local versus remote operational control. The Civilex project has provided an overview of the actual state of operational control in CSDP missions, investigated current challenges, collected requirements for an OCP and, ultimately, proposed design options for a future platform with the goal to improve situational awareness, information exchange and operational control for CSDP missions. This paper presents the outcomes of the Civilex project.
