project CYPRESS

The ongoing digitalization of society is not limited to mere information processing, as it is increasingly leveraging complex Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). These range from sensors & actuators in critical infrastructure, to appliances in automated smart buildings, to emergency networks using ad-hoc and satellite communications. However, CPS are an attractive target for cyber-attacks, as they threaten the security of strategic societal assets.

This project will develop novel solutions, products and standards to enhance the security and resilience of CPS in strategic, often critical assets. The developed solutions will be effective in making such attacks practically infeasible to be carried out, by adopting a defense-in-depth approach to protect the system and network infrastructure by construction. Also, they will leverage appropriate design rationales and building blocks to be lightweight and affordable to adopt in resource-constrained devices and platforms.

The project will face and address the following challenges:
i) CPS in relevant applications and networks are heterogeneous as to capabilities, resources and employed technologies;
ii) infrastructures relying on CPS are often large in size and dynamic throughout their lifetime;
iii) deployed devices can be resource-constrained, thus demanding security solutions to be lightweight and efficient;
iv) multiple applications share the same network environment in attempting to access protected resources.

The project will deliver security solutions, products and standards for CPS. This will also raise confidence in the adoption of CPS in strategic IT infrastructure, and thus accelerate the commercialization of related products. The open standardization of security solutions will enable interoperability among different vendors. This in turn facilitates the building of a homogeneous ecosystem, where it is easier to develop secure services and applications, while reducing production and operational costs.