Optimal DoS Attack Scheduling for Cyber-Physical Systems With Channel Hopping Scheme

• Published in: IEEE transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics. Systems Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 193 - 200
• Main Authors: Liu, Xiao-Hui, Dong, Jiuxiang, Yang, Guang-Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.01.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Channel estimation; Channel hopping scheme; Channels; Cyber-physical systems; Cybersecurity; cyber–physical systems (CPSs); denial of service (DoS); Denial of service attacks; Denial-of-service attack; Effectiveness; Energy limitation; Job shop scheduling; Multichannel communication; optimal attack scheduling; Optimal scheduling; Remote sensors; Scheduling; Sensor systems; Sensors; State estimation
• ISSN: 2168-2216; 2168-2232
• DOI: 10.1109/TSMC.2023.3305287

In this article, the optimal denial-of-service (DoS) attack scheduling problem for multichannel cyber-physical systems (CPSs) from the attackers' perspective is investigated, where state sensors deliver data to a remote estimator over multiple channels. It is essential to find an optimal attack scheduling strategy to disrupt the remote state estimator thanks to attacker's energy limitations. In our work, an interesting conclusion is proven that the mathematical expectation of attack number is a constant under different attack strategies when the attacker uses up all his energy to attack the system with a given number of channels. Second, a novel index for evaluating the effectiveness of attack strategies is proposed. Then, a scheduling strategy for optimal DoS attacks during multichannel communication is given based on the above. Eventually, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is analyzed numerically.