Tags:cyber-physical systems, dynamic logic, formal verification, hybrid logic, hybrid systems, information flow and smart grid
Abstract:
Information-flow security is important to the safety and privacy of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) across many domains: information leakage can both violate user privacy and provide information that supports further attacks. CPSs face the challenge that information can flow both in discrete cyber channels and in continuous real-valued physical channels ranging from time to physical flow of resources. We call these hybrid information flows and introduce dHL, the first logic for verifying these flows in hybrid-dynamical models of CPSs. We achieve verification of hybrid information flows by extending differential dynamic logic (dL) for hybrid-dynamical systems with hybrid-logical features for explicit representation and relation of program states. By verifying hybrid information flows, we ensure security even under a strong attacker model wherein an attacker can observe time and physical values continuously. We present a Hilbert-style proof calculus for dHL, prove it sound, and compare the expressive power of dHL with dL. We demonstrate dHL's abilities by developing a hybrid system model of the smart electrical grid FREEDM. We verify that the naive model has a previously-unknown information flow vulnerability and verify that a revised model resolves the vulnerability. To the best of our knowledge, this is both the first information flow proof for hybrid information flows and the first for a hybrid-dynamical model. We discuss applications of hybrid information flow to a range of critical systems.
A Hybrid, Dynamic Logic for Hybrid-Dynamic Information Flow