Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2024 - 36

harder for the vehicle to filter malicious
behavior. All of this can be done " on the
go " and in real-time without knowing anything
about the victim's radar.
" Automotive vehicles heavily rely on
mmWave radars to enable real-time
situational awareness and advanced
features to promote safe driving, " said
author Rohith Reddy Vennam. " Securing
these radars is of paramount importance.
We - mmSpoof - uncovered a
serious security issue with mmWave radars
and demonstrated a robust attack.
What's alarming is that anyone can
build the prototype using off-the-shelf
hardware components. "
To counter this type of attack, Vennam
suggests, researchers seeking to improve
the safety of AVs can use a high-resolution
radar capable of capturing multiple
reflections from a car to accurately identify
the true reflection. Researchers might
also create backup options for radar by
incorporating cameras and LiDAR, which
records the time it takes for a laser pulse
to hit an object and return to measure its
surroundings, into their defense.
Alternately, the team presents mmSpoof
as a means of preventing dangerous tailgating.
By placing an mmSpoof device on the
back of their car, drivers can trick a tailgating
car into registering a decelerating car
in front of them and activating the brakes.
For more information, contact Mika
Ono at m1ono@eng.ucsd.edu; 858-8225825.
A
'Smarter' Way to Protect an Electric Grid
Researchers are trying to create a tool that sorts and prioritizes cyber threats on the fly.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Benton County, WA
S
mart devices can be hacked. That
makes the electric grid vulnerable
to bad actors who might try to turn off
the power, damage the system, or worse.
Recently, a team of experts at the Department
of Energy's Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory put forth a new approach
to protect the grid.
The team, led by Data Scientist Sumit
Purohit, is trying to create a tool that sorts
and prioritizes cyber threats on the fly. The
idea is to give grid operators a clear blueprint
to identify and address the biggest
threats first and to protect against them
without a mad scramble for resources
down the road.
" A great deal of effort is put forth every
day into addressing specific vulnerabilities,
but that can be overwhelming, " said
Purohit. " We're putting forth a longer-term
solution. What do you need to be looking
at, not just today or tomorrow, but years
down the road, as the grid is changing?
" It's important to deal with today's problems,
but let's also think about tomorrow's
challenges. We need to plan for things
down the line as more smart devices like
batteries, inverters, generators, and hybrid
cars are connected to the grid. "
It's a bit like the difference between
addressing ailments one at a time compared
to embarking on decades of preventive
health. An alternate path is to
map out the most critical wellness behaviors
early on and to give those high
priority throughout life.
The team's formula is based on a
model known as hybrid attack graphs, a
mathematical approach that gives users
flexibility to map out and follow multiple
attack routes as they evolve and as
defenders and attackers give and take
ground. The team uses optimization
and data from actual grid cyberattacks to
train the model.
The research draws on research previously
done by MITRE Corp. that links
high-level objectives of adversaries with
the techniques they have used as well as
ways to prevent attacks. But the framework
does not include information
about the " cost " to an organization, in
terms of effort or money, to implement
those protections. The PNNL team is trying
to change that by addressing the cost
of implementing solutions.
" This approach would allow a utility
to quickly assess its cyber risk as they are
planning their future grid expansion, "
said Purohit. " If you plan to connect
more smart devices in the future, you
need to be prepared to address the risks.
There are thousands of ways to attack
utility operations. By looking at historical
events and using reinforcement
learning, we have reduced that to fewer
than 100 that need the most attention. "
A key part of the team's work is making
sure the work is " explainable " - that grid
operators and cyber analysts understand
the reasons why the model prioritizes and
makes the recommendations it does.
The team is working to improve the
model and plans to work with power grid
and cybersecurity experts to better measure
the impacts of adversarial actions
on cyber-physical systems.
For more information, contact Tom
Connecting more renewable energy such as wind and solar power demands more smart devices - and
ever-evolving technology to protect the grid against cyberattacks. (Image: hrui | Shutterstock.com)
36
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Rickey at tom.rickey@pnnl.gov; 509375-3732.
Tech
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Tech Briefs Magazine - June 2024

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