Security-aware functional modeling of Cyber-Physical Systems

TLDR

Security is a major challenge for Cyber‑Physical Systems, and identifying flaws early in design can reduce costs by 5–10× and preserve system integrity during operation. This paper argues that cybersecurity flaws should be detected as early as possible in CPS development. The authors present a security‑aware functional modeling methodology, implemented in Amesim and Matlab/Simulink, validated through simulation on an automotive use‑case to assess robustness against attacks and countermeasures.

Abstract

Security is one of the major challenges for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) design. Identifying flaws as early as possible in the CPS design saves time and money [6]; between 5× to 10× less expensive [7] than finding them during the detailed design stages. This paper makes a case for finding cybersecurity flaws as early as possible. Not only for the temporal and cost benefits, but more importantly, for the integrity of the system once in operation. We introduce a security-aware functional modeling methodology, supported by simulation to validate the robustness of the system in the presence of attacks and countermeasures. Our ideas are implemented in a design automation tool in Amesim and Matlab/Simulink. We use an automotive use-case as an example to validate the methodology and the tool.