Researchers unveil new cyber protections against "logic bombs"

Cybersecurity researchers astatine Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the Georgia Institute of Technology person projected caller ways to support 3D printed objects specified arsenic drones, prostheses and aesculapian devices from stealthy "logic bombs."

The researchers volition contiguous their paper, titled "Physical Logic Bombs successful 3D Printers via Emerging 4D Techniques," astatine the 2021 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference connected Dec. 10.

Rapid prototyping is the speedy fabrication of a part, exemplary oregon assembly utilizing 3D machine aided design, usually utilizing 3D printing oregon "additive manufacturing." Additive manufacturing is progressively utilized successful a scope of industries to nutrient safety-critical products, but determination presently are nary trustworthy methods for verifying their integrity against adversarial pre-print plan modifications.

"Next-generation, cyber-physical additive manufacturing enables precocious merchandise designs and capabilities, but it progressively relies connected highly networked industrial power systems that contiguous opportunities for cyber-attacks," said main researcher Saman Zonouz, an subordinate prof of electrical and machine engineering successful the Rutgers-New Brunswick School of Engineering. "The predominant attack to defending against these threats relies connected host-based intrusion detectors that beryllium wrong the aforesaid people controllers, and hence are often the archetypal people of the controller attacks."

The researchers looked into Mystique, a caller people of attacks connected printed objects that leverage emerging 4D printing exertion to present embedded machine code—or logic bombs—by manipulating the manufacturing process.

Mystique enables visually harmless objects to behave maliciously erstwhile a logic weaponry is triggered by a stimulus specified arsenic changes successful temperature, moisture, pH oregon modifications to the materials utilized initially, perchance causing catastrophic operational failures erstwhile they are used.

The researchers successfully evaluated Mystique connected respective 3D printing lawsuit studies and showed that it tin evade anterior countermeasures. To code this, they projected 2 strategies.

The archetypal solution focuses connected designing a sensor that tin measurement the creation and diameter of earthy materials passing done the printer's extruder to guarantee they conscionable expectations earlier the entity is printed. A dielectric sensor tin observe a alteration of 0.1mm successful filament diameters and a alteration of 10% successful attraction composition.

The 2nd solution uses high-resolution computed tomography images to observe residual stresses successful printed objects that opposition benign and malicious designs earlier activation of the attack. This CT detection has an accuracy of 94.6% successful identifying 4D attacks successful a azygous printing layer.

The probe squad plans to supply guidelines to necktie unneurotic resilience solutions successful bundle security, power strategy plan and signal processing, and to incorporated reliable and applicable cyber-physical onslaught detection into real-world manufacturing.

"Our connection is simply a caller imaginable onslaught vector that needs to beryllium considered and mitigated efficaciously successful additive manufacturing platforms. The thought is to usage caller carnal logic bombs successful 3D printed objects, specified arsenic concern gears and idiosyncratic protective instrumentality similar COVID-19 masks," Zonouz said. "These logic bombs tin aboriginal beryllium activated by the adversaries utilizing carnal stimulus similar moisture oregon vigor whenever suitable for them to marque the printed objects malfunction, specified arsenic to marque a COVID disguise suffer its extortion against the viral infection."

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