Biblio

Power systems domain has generally been very conservative in terms of conducting digital forensic investigations, especially so since the advent of smart grids. This lack of research due to a multitude of challenges has resulted in absence of knowledge base and resources to facilitate such an investigation. Digitalization in the form of smart grids is upon us but in case of cyber-attacks, attribution to such attacks is challenging and difficult if not impossible. In this research, we have identified digital forensic artifacts resulting from a cyber-attack on Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) systems, which will help an investigator attribute an attack using the identified evidences. The research also shows the usage of sandboxing for digital forensics along with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setup. This is first of its kind effort to identify and acquire all the digital forensic evidences for WAMPAC systems which will ultimately help in building a body of knowledge and taxonomy for power system forensics.

ICT systems have become an integral part of business and life. At the same time, these systems have become extremely complex. In such systems exist numerous vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited by potential threat actors. pwnPr3d is a novel modelling approach that performs automated architectural analysis with the objective of measuring the cyber security of the modeled architecture. Its integrated modelling language allows users to model software and hardware components with great level of details. To illustrate this capability, we present in this paper the metamodel of UNIX, operating systems being the core of every software and every IT system. After describing the main UNIX constituents and how they have been modelled, we illustrate how the modelled OS integrates within pwnPr3d's rationale by modelling the spreading of a self-replicating malware inspired by WannaCry.