Dr N Moradpoor, Mr J McWhinnie, Dr D Binnie
No more applications being accepted
Self-Funded PhD Students Only
About the Project
The School of Computing (SoC) and the School of Engineering and the Built Environment (SEBE) at Edinburgh Napier University are expanding their research into Industrial Control Systems (ICS), cybersecurity analysis and measures using machine learning and is offering a PhD studentship position to enable a suitably qualified candidate to join the research team.
ICS have been widely used in critical infrastructures and large industries in which career and wellbeing of nations is highly dependent on their continuity and operations. This includes: nuclear power plants, gas, electricity, telecommunications, water, oil, transportation (e.g. cars and aeroplane), chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Thus, the protection of these utilities that provide critical services to the nation is vitally important given the difficulty imposed by any failure or damage to these systems and/or their services. However, despite the importance of such critical infrastructure, their cybersecurity related issues have been much less considered and underdeveloped. Recent security incidents on critical industries identify that threats in such environments appear to be growing both in occurrence and strength. For example, in December 2014, a nuclear power plant in South Korea suffered a severe attack on its computer systems by unknown hackers [3]. After the successful attack, the hackers accessed blueprints of nuclear reactors, floor maps and other internal information on the South Korean nuclear plant. Then, they posted blueprints of nuclear reactors online and threatened further leaks unless the government closed the reactors. This continued with more data leakage revealing internal design and manuals for the two nuclear reactors on the plant. More recently, in January 2016, Israel sustained one of the largest and most serious cybersecurity attacks triggered against one of its electrical power grid networks by a computer virus [4]. The identity of the hackers behind the attack has never been revealed to the public, the Israeli energy ministry did not provide any details about how the attacks were carried out. However, a spokesman for Israel’s electrical power grid company confirmed that some of its computer systems had been shut down for two days due to this cybersecurity attack.
The project which supports this studentship will explore security analysis and measures in industrial control systems using machine learning with a focus on Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) [1] which was recently bought and established in SEBE at Edinburgh Napier University. FMS is an automated facility including a group of processing workstations networked with computer terminals that process the end-to-end manufacturing of a product, e.g. assembly of a mobile phone. This includes loading, unloading, machining, assembly, storing, quality testing, and data processing. Based on our best knowledge, no work has been done in terms of cybersecurity vulnerabilities of such systems. This project follows on the recent successful and ongoing joint PhD project between SoC and SEBE on cybersecurity analysis and measure of Festo MPA Process Control Rig [2] with the same supervisory team. Festo MPA is a clean water supply system which has also been bought and established in SEBE at Edinburgh Napier University.
Academic qualifications
A first degree (at least a 2.1) ideally in related discipline including but not limited to: Cybersecurity, Control Engineering, Computer Systems and Networks, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering or Automation and Robotics with a good fundamental knowledge of practical software/hardware/control/simulation implementation and/or prototyping.
English language requirement
IELTS score must be at least 6.5 (with not less than 6.0 in each of the four components). Other, equivalent qualifications will be accepted. Full details of the University’s policy are available here https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-degrees/application-process
Essential attributes:
• Experience of fundamental computer programming
• Competent in academic writing
• Knowledge of cybersecurity/ Control Engineering/ automation and/or robotics
• Good written and oral communication skills
• Strong motivation, with evidence of independent research skills relevant to the project
• Good time management
Desirable attributes:
-Desirably have previous experience working on: Cybersecurity (e.g. as a network/application/software/hardware penetration tester), artificial intelligence/machine learning/ data mining, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Control Engineering and/or robotics
-Experience of working within industry will be an advantage
When applying for this position please quote Project ID SOC0010
Edinburgh Napier University is committed to promoting equality and diversity in our staff and student community https://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/university-governance/equality-and-diversity-information
References
[1] Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS):
https://kupdf.com/download/flexible-manufacturing-systems-fms-a-whitepaper_59748d9ddc0d60a816ca298b_pdf
[2] Festo MPS Process Control Rig:
https://kupdf.com/embed/manual-mps-pa-compact-workstation-en_59ad9250dc0d603e70568edb.html?sp=0
[3] South Korean Nuclear Power Plant Hacked, available at: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2014/12/21/94/0302000000AEN20141221003800315F.html [retrieved 28th October 2016]
[4] Israeli Power Grid Authority Suffers Massive Cyber Attack, available at: http://thehackernews.com/2016/01/power-grid-cyberattack.html [retrieved 28th October 2016]