Sustainable Cybersecurity Framework for Operational Technology Protocols (CS2-FES-01-23)

Many Operational Technology (OT) protocols suffer from security weaknesses. Existing security solutions such as the cybersecurity maturity model and key management for the OT protocols have at least one of the following limitations: (I) Security focuses on limited security specifications. (II) Security does not explicitly capture adversarial actions. (III) Security focuses on prior security procedures and does not use systematic methodologies for attack discovery. This project aims to design and deploy a Sustainable Cybersecurity Framework for checking whether an OT protocol suffers from security under-specification and further optimising the security of the protocol. In this project, we will utilise string and frequency analyses to identify the security specifications required for the OT protocols and apply our new sustainable split-lightweight cryptographic algorithm approach to optimise the security specifications of the protocols. The approach takes as input the attributes of lightweight cryptographic algorithms required for security specifications optimisation of an OT protocol and produces a sustainable version of the OT protocol with security, performance, and usability guarantees.

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Engineering, or related field. Strong knowledge of cryptography, control systems, IoT protocols, and programming. Enthusiasm for research and security framework development.

Submit your application via the University of Greenwich PhD application portal. Contact the supervisors or the department for guidance on the application process.