PETRAS Sector IoT Cybersecurity Animation Videos

The PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity presents a six-part animation video series on real-world scenarios posed by Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity for industry sectors, and how PETRAS research is tackling those challenges.

What are the security and privacy requirements emerging from interplay between humans, vehicles and infrastructure? How do we provide security and privacy assurances in supply chains and control systems? What are the privacy and security risks relating to healthcare and patient data, as well as the ethical challenges arising from using IoT technology?

These are some of the questions covered in this video series, where complex challenges posed by IoT cybsersecurity are presented in a concise and easily accessible format, through the lens of industry sectors. The sectors covered are: Agritech; Ambient Environments; Transport and Mobility; Supply Chains and Control Systems; Infrastructure; and Health and Wellbeing.

You can learn more about how PETRAS defines these ‘sectors’ terms on the Sectors and Lenses webpage: https://petras-iot.org/sectors/.

Transport and Mobility

IoT can enhance typical single mode transport systems to create new reactive models for multi-mode transport, a vital component for the current push for smarter, connected transport and mobility. However, new systems and models face significant challenges to be of maximum benefit.

This animation video showcases PETRAS research addressing IoT cybersecurity issues facing the Transport & Mobility sector:

• The UMIS project investigated mechanisms for increasing user trust in Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) in an IoT ecosystem for next-generation transportation-systems.
• The MAGIC project addressed the challenges of designing complex and autonomous connected vehicle systems, for example unmanned drones and autonomous cars. Such systems must ensure safety while navigating uncertain and changing environments.
• MAISE addressed the knowledge gap of how to optimise and deploy multimodal AI models on constrained edge devices without trading off accuracy, whilst also being robust against adversarial attacks.

Supply Chains and Control Systems

The Supply Chain and Control Systems sector is increasingly adopting digital and connected technologies. Whilst use of IoT-technology within Industrial Control Systems (ICS) has many benefits, they also introduce new risks and challenges, such as cybersecurity concerns.
This animation video showcases PETRAS research addressing some of the risks and challenges facing the Supply Chains and Control Systems sector:

• The Logistics 4.0 project designed and developed tiny sensor-tracking systems that attach directly to high-value goods and provide environment, transit behaviours, and wide-area real-time location data.
• ELLIOTT developed an AI-based early anomaly detection model. This model can be applied to industrial processes to catch early signs of cyber-attacks and thereby prevent catastrophic consequences, such as the exfiltration of sensitive data or the disruption of critical processes.

Infrastructure

Increases in IoT numbers represent a significant risk for Critical National Infrastructure, creating increasing cybersecurity challenges. IoT devices are only one layer of a complex ecosystem which represents the IoT value chain. They depend on the connectivity network, software platforms, billing and customer support, and system integrators. The supporting digital infrastructure is increasingly designated as part of CNI, transforming some of the IoT and AI security vulnerabilities into infrastructure e-vulnerabilities.

This animation video showcases PETRAS research that has addressed some of the cybersecurity issues facing the Infrastructure sector:

• The PSWARMS project investigated the existing cybersecurity processes implemented in the water utilities sector, a part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure. Through close collaboration with Yorkshire Water and NEXOR, they produced a new, sector-wide, abstracted model representing the arrangement of cyber-physical assets, the role of the IoT, and the flow of data relevant to security processes.
• The TruSDEd project addressed how to enable in-situ and trustworthy cybersecurity provisioning for the IoT and other similarly resource-constrained environments (e.g., industrial control systems) connecting at the Edge of the Internet.

Health and Wellbeing

Through interconnected networks of devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) provides remote monitoring and digital twins to revolutionise healthcare. However, its handling of sensitive patient information highlights the importance of secure development in IoT-based healthcare systems.
This animation video showcases PETRAS research that has addressed some of the challenges facing the Health & Wellbeing sector:

• The REG-MEDTECH research project worked closely with BSI to explore the regulatory and standardisation challenges associated with connected intelligent medical devices. This includes wearable and implantable hardware such as an insulin pump, as well as software and AI as a medical device.
• PRISM collaborated with the NHS and UK Dementia Research to provide a simple and intuitive interface for monitoring and home care solutions, while providing a privacy-preserving data collection mechanism.

Agritech

From self-driving tractors and indoor vertical farms to dairy herd management and temperature controlled polytunnels – IoT is an increasingly prominent and critical element of agriculture. As with all sectors, increased connectivity brings increased vulnerability, such as data leaks.

The Agritech animation video showcases PETRAS research projects that have explored the threats within this complex environment:

• The CyFoo project established the first testbed to be focussed on the security of agritech devices. The project deployed field studies to investigate user understanding, perception, and behaviour towards risk.
• FARM addressed challenges in the adoption of Agritech by defining a new Digital Twin framework. This framework was based on models enabling multi-scale runtime analysis, dynamic forecasting, and process optimisation.

Ambient Environments

As cities, workplaces and homes increasingly adopt the internet of things to improve efficiency and quality of life, vulnerability to, and impact of, cyberattack increases. Growing reliance on data, often generated by Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, leads to a continuous rise in data compromises.

This animation video showcases PETRAS research that is addressing the increasing challenges facing the Ambient sector:

• The PT.Heat project addressed new cybersecurity risks posed by thermal cameras. Despite their many benefits, they present a new front for side-channel attacks, such as taking a thermal image which reveals heat traces left on keyboards and touchscreens, revealing the user’s input.
• The PrivIoT project tackled some of the issues posed by the integration and interactions between consumer IoT devices, smart meters, and Demand-Side Management (DSM) technologies, that could ultimately result in a multitude of digitally-enabled harms.