Aviation Security Assessment Platform Using Attack Tree Models
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity of modern aviation systems due to integrated modular computing architectures and multiple external network connections introduces significant cybersecurity risks, making it challenging to monitor, assess, and manage security vulnerabilities across diverse hardware components and systems, which are not adequately addressed by conventional approaches.
Innovation Solution
The development of devices and techniques that utilize attack tree models to systematically assess and visualize cybersecurity risks in aviation systems, enabling comprehensive risk analysis and monitoring, including the creation of machine-readable records and graphical representations of potential adverse events, to facilitate both design and maintenance phases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If integrated modular computing architectures and multiple external network connections are used to enhance aviation system functionality and performance, then system capability and connectivity are improved, but cybersecurity vulnerabilities and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the aviation system into multiple hierarchical levels (system level, subsystem level, component level) and introduces layered security boundaries. Each level has its own security monitoring and assessment mechanisms, allowing security management to be divided into manageable segments rather than treating the entire system as a monolithic vulnerable target.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces security monitoring intermediaries and assessment platforms that act as mediators between external networks and internal aviation systems. These intermediaries monitor traffic, assess vulnerabilities, and provide security analysis without being part of the core operational systems, thus isolating potential attack vectors.
2Adaptability or versatility
If diverse hardware components and devices are added to aviation systems to perform desired roles, then system functionality is enhanced, but difficulty in monitoring and managing security increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent develops a universal security assessment platform that can evaluate multiple types of aviation components (sensors, processors, communication devices, actuators) using a common framework. This multi-functional approach allows diverse hardware to be monitored through standardized security assessment procedures, reducing the need for component-specific security management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms security assessment from a qualitative process to a quantitative one by introducing measurable security parameters and metrics. Security vulnerabilities are assessed using numerical scores and standardized parameters, enabling automated comparison and management of security risks across diverse hardware components.
3Ease of operation
If conventional security monitoring approaches are used on heterogeneous aviation systems, then implementation is simpler, but assessment comprehensiveness and accuracy are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual security assessment methods with automated computational systems. Software-based security assessment tools automatically collect data from heterogeneous components, analyze vulnerabilities, and generate security reports, substituting human-intensive processes with machine-executable security evaluation algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous security monitoring with feedback loops that automatically update security assessments based on real-time system state changes. The system continuously collects security data, re-evaluates vulnerabilities, and provides ongoing feedback to administrators, enabling dynamic adaptation to changing security threats rather than static periodic assessments.
Data Source
AI summary
An attack tree model for an aviation system comprises a plurality of tree nodes organized as a tree. For each tree node of the attack tree model model, the tree node corresponds to a respective event that may befall aviation system. An analysis computing system generates one or more attack tree models for the aviation system, wherein the aviation system includes one or more systems, sub-systems, or components. The analysis computing system further performs an assessment of one or more of the system, sub-systems, or components of the aviation system using the one or more attack tree models, and outputs metrics indicative of the assessment.