AA-SAFE: Securing Against Actuator Facing Electromagnetic Attacks

An embedded system is a computer system that consists of a micro controller and some form of interaction with the physical world through sensors (inputs) and actuators (outputs). Such systems now far outnumber classical computer systems in the world by many orders of magnitude. A modern car alone has 60+ individual embedded systems to measure and control a range of parameters like breaking, power steering, engine performance, etc. They are also used in implantable medical devices, factory control systems and in the critical national infrastructure, among many other places, where they regulate performance and manage the flow of diagnostic information. 

Taking advantage of the fact that any wire (or circuit board trace) acts as an antenna under the right circumstances, an attacker can inject false measurements into the sensor input (or actuator output) of an embedded system from a long distance away, thereby controlling what the embedded system will do. This problem is extremely serious because such a large part of our modern society depends on embedded systems to function, and specialized security mechanisms and countermeasures are needed to protect the analogue interfaces that sensors and actuators use. 

This project will focus on defining and securing against attacks on actuator interfaces, as some progress has already been made to secure sensor interfaces. The research will lead to a greater understanding of how electromagnetic interference attacks can be targeted towards actuators, how such attacks can be accomplished, and how to protect systems again them. This will enable provably secure defence mechanisms and ideally a certification system for critical components to make sure that the design has taken adversarial electromagnetic interference into account. Together, the project aims to provide provably secure mechanisms that will make it impossible to attack our infrastructure or vehicles undetected.