Time-delay attacks in network systems

Abstract

Modern cyber-physical systems rely on dependable communication channels to accomplish cooperative tasks, such as forming and maintaining a coordinated platooning configuration in groups of interconnected vehicles. We define and study a class of adversary attacks that tamper with the temporal characteristics of the communication channels, thus leading to delays in the signals received by certain network nodes. We show how such attacks may affect the stability of the overall interconnection, even when the number of compromised channels is limited. Our algorithms allow us to identify the links that are inherently less robust to this class of attacks and to study the resilience of different network topologies when the attacker goal is to minimize the number of compromised communication channels. Based on our numerical results, we reveal a relation between the robustness of a certain network topology and the degree distribution of its nodes.