CIBERLAB
Full Title
CIBERLAB - Laboratório para Ensaios de Cibersegurança para o Setor ElétricoDescription
Currently, critical infrastructures are increasingly exposed to cyber-attacks from different sources. Such attacks, in the Brazilian scenario, have occurred mainly in the form of ransomware attacks. However, there have already been examples of orchestrated attacks on OT infrastructure on the international scene, the most studied being the attack on the Ukrainian electrical system in 2015. Within this context, the project proposes the development of a cybersecurity testing platform based on the concepts of Digital Twins (DT) and Hardware in the Loop (HitL) for simulating OT networks and developing and applying classical attack methods and also using Artificial Intelligence to verify the degree of maturity of systems in a segregated environment. The DT concept foresees the creation of a virtual twin of the tested system, whether substation equipment, distribution network, or telecommunications network equipment, or even a set of these. Thus, it is possible to test cyber-attacks on this structure, which is a replica of the real system, without compromising its operational performance. In addition, simulations will be carried out using the concepts of Hardware and System in the Loop and real-time systems, using the same equipment as the system to be tested, when available. The proposed solution will allow leveraging the national development of solutions that can be integrated into real supervision and control systems. In addition to the already known attack models, Artificial Intelligence attack models will be developed and tested, in which intelligent algorithms monitor and attempt to learn the system’s behavior, looking for initially unknown vulnerabilities. This type of attack currently represents the state of the art in terms of system invasion methods and has motivated the most recent counter-invasion research in the world. The proposal also foresees a research partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST, which has a center of excellence in cybersecurity as a technological and methodological reference in security assessment. This research partnership will occur at no direct cost to the project.