Technical Report: Towards a Systematic Threat Modeling Approach for Cyber-physical Systems

Area of Science:

• Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) security
• System design and threat analysis
• Industrial control system security

Background:

• Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) integrate computational and physical components, making them vulnerable to diverse attacks.
• Safeguarding CPS is critical due to their impact on physical processes.
• Proactive threat identification during the design phase is essential for robust security.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a systematic threat modeling tool for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS).
• To validate the proposed tool using a real-world case study.
• To demonstrate effective threat mitigation strategies based on established guidelines.

Main Methods:

• Development of a systematic threat modeling tool tailored for CPS.
• Application of the tool to a wireless railway temperature monitoring system.
• Mitigation of identified threats using NIST SP 800-82 guidelines.

Main Results:

• Successful identification of potential threats in the railway CPS.
• Validation of the proposed threat modeling approach's effectiveness.
• Demonstration of practical threat mitigation in a real-world scenario.

Conclusions:

• Systematic threat modeling during the design phase is crucial for CPS security.
• The proposed tool provides an effective method for CPS threat analysis.
• NIST guidelines offer a robust framework for mitigating identified CPS threats.