Skip to Secure: Securing Cyber-Physical Control Loops with Intentionally Skipped Executions

Abstract

We consider the problem of provably securing a given control loop implementation in the presence of adversarial interventions on data exchange between plant and controller. Such interventions can be thwarted using continuously operating monitoring systems and also cryptographic techniques, both of which consume network and computational resources. We provide a principled approach for intentional skipping of control loop executions which may qualify as a useful control-Theoretic countermeasure against stealthy attacks which violate message integrity and authenticity. As can be seen, such an approach helps in lowering the resource consumption caused by monitoring/cryptographic security measures.