Background

Cybersecurity is an ever-increasing issue in the national grid. Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems to acquire critical data, to inject false information, or to trip system breakers. As the power grid undergoes a transformation with the adoption of new technologies such as demand response, smart meters, and distributed energy resources, it is important construct the new system with an eye towards cybersecurity.

However, the new power grid is not being built from scratch. The gradual introduction of new technologies into the system affords no easy avenue for implementing state-of-the-art system-wide cybersecurity measures that protect the old as well as the new. There therefore exists a potential role for aftermarket “plug-and-play” encryption modules that can interface with a wide variety of power system components. Such a device could encrypt data, such as the state of charge of a battery, the power output of a solar array, and dispatch command to a battery module before the data is sent to the system operator.

In order to be implemented on a large scale, such a device must be low cost and low power. Furthermore, the encryption scheme must have a low computational cost to allow real-time communication with minimal delays. This places restrictions on the type of encryption algorithms that can be used. For example, conventional RSA encryption requires too much processing power for a typical microcontroller such as an Arduino Nano. Researchers therefore patented a novel hybrid encryption solution that combine the best of speed and security.

Technology Overview

Researchers at the University of Hawaii’s College of Engineering have developed a novel cybersecurity solution (CyberSign). CyberSign authenticates a digital asset (such as IOT devices, an algorithm, blockchain, Token) and provides an encrypted communication channel in the network.

The CyberSign is a pair of algorithmic process uniquely co-created which will be added as a module to any digital asset. Use cases are in large scale deployment of algorithms, authenticating IOT devices, pairing algorithms and devices, as well ad providing an encrypted channel for communication among a network of digital assets.

Features

Low computation cost

Encryption is low cost
Can be used in any Open-source hardware

Flexible deployment
CyberSign is added in wireframes as SDK
Self-maintained
Easy to scale

End-to-End Encryption for edge-computing applications
Plug and play to any network of devices
Adopting the security and computation cost
Requires no specific hardware to deploy
Contains inherent authentication for the edge computing devices or edge algorithms

Benefits

Low cost and low power
Scalable deployment
Dynamic key management
Intelligent security
Defense in Depth

Cybersecurity of Critical Connected Devices

Patents

IP Status

Seeking