Security and Privacy in Cyber-Physical Systems

Preface

The idea of automation is as old as mankind and has produced a wide range of artifacts from simple tools to complex robotic control systems. In the 1940s, work-saving machinery began to evolve from the purely mechanical to information systems, starting with the birth of computers and the emerging discipline of cybernetics. The idea behind cybernetics was to have machines conduct sensing and control operations that exceeded human capabilities for warfare applications. Robotics (machines to semiautonomously manipulate the physical world) was the natural outgrowth of this field of inquiry. In the 1960s, the Internet was conceived, bringing new ways for humans to communicate worldwide across computer networks. The blending of mechanical power, information processing, and global communications was perhaps inevitable, but the applications and implications of this merger are yet to be fully understood.

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of sensing, computation, control, and networking in physical objects and infrastructures. This integration of communication, sensing, and control is enabling highly adaptable, scalable, resilient, secure, and usable applications whose capabilities far exceed stand-alone embedded systems. The CPS revolution is transforming the way people interact with engineered systems and is driving innovation and competition in sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, ...