A modest security analysis of cyber-physical systems: A case study

Abstract

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are integrations of networking and distributed computing systems with physical processes. Although the range of applications of CPSs include several critical domains, their verification and validation often relies on simulation-test systems rather then formal methodologies. In this paper, we use a recent version of the expressive Modest Toolset to implement a non-trivial engineering application, and test its safety model checker prohver as a formal instrument to statically detect a variety of cyber-physical attacks, i.e., attacks targeting sensors and/or actuators, with potential physical consequences. We then compare the effectiveness of the Modest Toolset and its safety model checker in verifying CPS security properties when compared to other state-of-the-art model checkers.