Cyber-Physical Testbeds: Scientific Instruments for Cyber Security Assessment of Critical Infrastructures

Modern societies depend to a large degree on the quality and reliability of the services that Networked Critical Infrastructures (NCIs) provide. Physical infrastructures, such as transportation systems, the electricity grid, and telecommunication networks, provide fundamental services for the smooth functioning of the economy and for the lives of citizens. Therefore, accidental or intentional failures of these infrastructures represent one of the most important risks that our society faces. During the last years we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) within such NCIs. The motivation was mainly to reduce the costs of industrial installations and to implement new services such as the remote monitoring and maintenance of infrastructures, energy markets, and the emerging smart grid. Although the advantages of this trend are indisputable, the downside is that widespread use of standard ICT components exposes these vital NCIs to significant but nonetheless common cyber threats. For instance, deliberate attacks through computer malware [6] or unintentional threats from misconfiguration and software bugs within ICT systems [5] can lead to severe service outages. This fact has also been highlighted by several studies and reports concerning the security of Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems [6, 15]. SCADA systems represent the core infrastructure of NCIs, providing the capabilities for monitoring and controlling of physical processes. They mainly consist of actuators, sensors and hardware devices that perform a physical action, e.g., open a valve, as well as all the ICT devices and software that monitor and control physical processes. Unlike traditional ICT systems where the effects of disruptive cyber attacks are mostly limited to the cyber realm, in the context of critical infrastructure assets, such attacks can result the loss of vital services such as transportation, water and gas supply. To properly assess the impact of cyber threats against both the physical and cyber dimension of NCIs an accurate and efficient scientific instrument for conducting experimental tests and measurements is needed. Cyber-physical testbeds that actively support the “scientific method” are a clear example of such scientific in-