The NCSC research problem book
Page 14 of 21
Cyber-physical problems
Introducing the cyber-physical problems
The cyber-physical chapter of the NCSC problem book brings together the high-level questions we think are important to secure the systems that bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds.
As highlighted in problem five of the cross-cutting problem book – how can we accelerate the adoption of modern security mitigations into operational technology? – supporting the security of our operational technology is a high priority. Developing a set of problems that supports this bigger question allows us to define the steps we hope will lead to solutions.
The problems here reflect only some of the challenges facing critical national infrastructure (CNI), operational technology (OT) and operators of cyber-physical equipment. It isn’t an exhaustive list, but instead provides a guide to the types of problems we collectively need to solve.
We have identified the following six problems:
- 1
How do we build security for systems with long operational lives?
- 2
How do we incentivise better security for cyber-physical systems?
- 3
How can we understand the security of a wide variety of cyber-physical assets?
- 4
How do we have confidence in the security of cyber-physical systems?
- 5
How can we make use of emerging technologies in a secure way within cyber-physical systems?
- 6
How do we build resilience across a ‘system of systems’?
Who is it for?
This chapter of the problem book is primarily aimed at academics and those interested in cyber-physical research, although it may also be of interest to anyone working with cyber-physical systems.
How it should be used?
The aim of this document is to set out some of the major challenges facing cyber-physical security over the next 5 to 10 years.
It is structured to give the high-level question that we ideally want to solve as well as a description of the related area. This is then aided by some of the associated research domains that are needed to support answering the question.
We’re interested to hear about work that’s happening that contributes to solving these cyber-physical problems and have set up a form for you to tell us more, including the institution you’re linked with and whether you’ve worked with us before.