{"id":2541,"date":"2015-02-09T07:49:28","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T07:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2015-02-09T07:55:03","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T07:55:03","slug":"security-for-both-real-and-cyber-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/security-for-both-real-and-cyber-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Security for both real and cyber worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A combined cyber and physical security system will protect customers charging electric vehicles on smart electricity grids<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A new automatic security system can protect against both cyber and physical attacks when charging an electric vehicle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As electricity grids become more sophisticated, grid administrators can collect instantaneous data on consumer and supplier behavior. The \u2018smart grid\u2019 then learns to improve the reliability, costs and sustainability of electricity distribution. However, smart grids present new security challenges, especially for mobile systems such as electric vehicles (EVs), which can be attacked both electronically and physically.<\/span>

Now, Jianying Zhou and Aldar Chan at the A*STAR Institute of Infocomm Research have developed the first automatic security system that protects EVs from combined cyber\u2013physical attacks.<\/span>

\u201cMost existing authentication systems merely apply cybersecurity schemes directly to the smart grid, leaving gaps in the protection,\u201d explains Zhou. \u201cThe problem is especially serious for EVs, because the charging infrastructure is publicly open. Anyone could plug in an EV, even if it is stolen.\u201d<\/span>

A particular danger is the so-called substitution attack, whereby a criminal can \u2018digitally imitate\u2019 an EV, plugging in their own device while the EV owner pays for the electricity. Chan and Zhou demonstrated a successful substitution attack on an existing EV charging station. \u201cWe plugged in kettles and hair dryers; it could be anything that draws current,\u201d says Zhou.<\/span><\/p>\n

After proving that this security loophole existed, the researchers worked to improve the classic \u2018challenge-response\u2019 protocol for online security. \u201cInstead of using a single challenge \u2014 which is a random number used to test if a user really is who he claims to be \u2014 we used one challenge sent through the wireless cyber path and another challenge through a physical path or the charging cable,\u201d says Zhou. \u201cThis ensures that the EV is connected physically to the right spot in the power grid, and that it is a real EV meeting existing EV standards.\u201d<\/span>

Perhaps inevitably, Chan and Zhou found they could not achieve physical authentication using software alone. They had to design a new onboard hardware mechanism that binds an EV to its digital identity. However, they discovered a way to embed the challenge number in one of the signaling lines of the charging cable, so that existing charging stations will not need to be modified.<\/span>

The researchers believe that their new security system could protect other components in the power grid, such as relays and transformers, as well as cardless ATMs. \u201cWith more research we could devise systems to ensure that the person withdrawing cash actually has digital authorization,\u201d says Zhou.<\/span><\/p>\n

Words to know\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

sophisticated:\u00a0(of a machine, system, or technique) developed to a high degree of complexity.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

instantaneous:\u00a0occurring or done instantly.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

sustainability:\u00a0the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0imitate:\u00a0take or follow as a model;\u00a0copy or simulate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

substitution<\/span>: the action of replacing someone or something with another person or thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

inevitably:\u00a0as is certain to happen; unavoidably;\u00a0as one would expect; predictably.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A combined cyber and physical security system will protect customers charging electric vehicles on smart electricity grids As electricity grids become more sophisticated, grid administrators can collect instantaneous data on consumer and supplier behavior. The \u2018smart grid\u2019 then learns to improve the reliability, costs and sustainability of electricity distribution. However, smart grids present new security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computer-science"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",95,63,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",300,200,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hi_5690.jpg",150,100,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Computer Science<\/a>","tag_info":"Computer Science","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}