Safety and Security of Cyber-physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) interact with their physical environment by both monitoring and manipulating objects and processes from the real world. The range of applications for CPSs encompasses agriculture, aeronautics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, robotics, and transportation, to name just a few. Often, CPSs are part of what we consider critical infrastructure, for example, electric power and water treatment. CPSs communicating with the outside world are security-critical. They open an attack vector through their communication channels. CPSs are safety-critical if they potentially harm their environment. Conventional protection mechanisms like secure design principles are insufficient. We need to guarantee our CPSs’ resilience (cf. Segovia et al.1), that is, the ability of a system to withstand adverse events while maintaining an acceptable functionality.2 Communication and coordination features of CPSs demand a combined approach to consider both safety and security concerns.