The nation's electrical power grid is becoming increasingly interconnected through the internet, and while this technological sophistication provides significant benefits, it also comes hand-in-hand with considerable risk.
Enhanced interconnectivity means the power grid is now more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Fortunately, researchers are now hard at work, designing safeguards to help protect the grid from computer viruses trying to wreak havoc on the system.
For instance, Errin Fulp, professor of computer science at Wake Forest University, is developing an army of "digital ants" that can scour computer networks looking for threats such as computer worms and self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of computers.
When one of these digital ants detects a threat, it is designed to send for more ants to converge at that particular location, drawing the attention of human operators to investigate further.
"The idea is to deploy thousands of different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat," Fulp said in a press release. "As they move about the network, they leave digital trails modeled after the scent trails ants in nature use to guide other ants. Each time a digital ant identifies some evidence, it is programmed to leave behind a stronger scent. Stronger scent trails attract more ants, producing the swarm that marks a potential computer infection."
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This summer Fulp and his students are teaming up with scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of California at Davis to try the digital ant technology on a large scale. So far, the approach has proven successful in testing, and it was named one of the "ten technologies that have the power to change our lives," by Scientific American magazine last year.
A report from earlier this year detailed just how important smart grid management can be. But, no doubt mitigating the risks associated with internet integration must also be addressed.
What's more, as the press release concludes, if this digital ant approach proves successful in safeguarding the power grid, it could have wide-ranging applications. The digital ant approach could help protect anything connected to SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) networks, computer systems that control everything from water and sewer management systems to mass transit and manufacturing operations.
Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp is training an army of “digital ants” to turn loose into the power grid to seek out computer viruses trying to wreak havoc on the system.
If the approach proves successful in safeguarding the power grid, it could have wide-ranging applications on protecting anything connected to SCADA networks, computer systems that control everything from water and sewer management systems to mass transit systems to manufacturing systems.
Fulp is working this summer with scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., on the next steps in the digital ant's technology, developed by PNNL and Wake Forest over the last several years. The approach is so promising that it was named one of the “ten technologies that have the power to change our lives,” by Scientific American magazine last year.
The power grid is probably more vulnerable to cyber attacks than security experts would like to admit, said Fulp, an expert in security and computer networks. As the grid becomes more and more interconnected, it offers hackers more points to enter the system; for instance, inserting a virus or computer worm into a low-security site, such as in your home’s smart grid, to gain access to more secure systems up the line.
“When that network connects to a power source, which connects to the smart grid, you have a jumping-off point” for computer viruses, he said. “A cyber attack can have a real physical result of shutting off power to a city or a nuclear power plant.”
The digital ant's technology could transform cybersecurity because it adapts rapidly to changing threats, said Fulp, who has received nearly $250,0000 in grants from PNNL/Battelle Memorial Institute for his ongoing research.
Unlike static and traditional security approaches, digital ants wander through computer networks looking for threats such as computer worms, self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of computers. When a digital ant detects a threat, it summons an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators to investigate.
“The idea is to deploy thousands of different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat,” Fulp said. “As they move about the network, they leave digital trails modeled after the scent trails ants in nature use to guide other ants. Each time a digital ant identifies some evidence, it is programmed to leave behind a stronger scent. Stronger scent trails attract more ants, producing the swarm that marks a potential computer infection.”
The concept has proven successful in testing on a small scale, but will it still work when it’s scaled up to protect something as large and complex as the nation’s power grid? Fulp and two of his students — computer science graduate students Michael Crouse and Jacob White — are working this summer with scientists at PNNL and from the University of California at Davis to answer that question. But even using PNNL’s vast computer platforms, they can only rely on computer simulations to predict the ants’ “behavior” up to a point.
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That’s where Kenneth Berenhaut, an associate professor of mathematics and Z. Smith Reynolds Faculty Fellow, comes in. Berenhaut — an expert in mathematical modeling and simulation — and graduate student Ross Hilton, will use modeling to help determine what will happen as the ants move about the smart grid from the hot water heater in your house to the electrical substation to the power plant.
Among the questions to be answered: How do the ants migrate across different computer platforms and systems operating at different speeds? How many ants should you have patrolling a system? How long do they live? How do the ants scale up to identify a threat and then ramp back down?
“In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully,” Fulp said. “They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We’re trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system.”
PNNL, a Department of Energy laboratory, conducts cutting-edge cybersecurity research. Glenn Fink, a senior research scientist at PNNL, first came up with the idea of copying ant behavior for computer security. He was familiar with Fulp’s work developing faster computer scans using parallel processing — dividing computer data into batches like lines of shoppers going through grocery store checkouts, where each lane is focused on certain threats — and invited him to join the project several years ago.
Swarms of digital ants may soon crawl all over the internet, scouting not for food, but computer worms and self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines. Security experts have successfully deployed a new type of network security software that mimics the habits of real-world ants.
Ants on earth, for instance, wander randomly but return to their colonies when they find food. But on the way back, they leave behind pheromone trails. If other ants find the trail, they follow it and reinforce it. The idea of the ant colony algorithm follows this pattern. The digital ants wander through computer networks. When an ant detects a threat, other ants converge on the scene, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate.
"In nature, we know that ants defend themselves against threats very successfully," Wake Forest Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp, an expert in security and computer networks, said in a press statement, adding: "They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system.”
Digital ants are an application of Swarm Intelligence or SI. Examples of this concept abound in nature and include ant colonies, bird flocking, animal herding, bacterial growth, and fish schooling. SI, which refers to a general set of algorithms, was made popular in works of fiction like 'Prey' from Michael Crichton, where a swarm of nano-robots attacks humans as experiments go wrong, and robotic sentinels in movies like The Matrix.
Using SI, these digital ants adapt to the variations of viruses that hackers routinely introduce. This is critical since security programs gobble up more resources, and antivirus scans take longer and machines run slower when anti-virus packages discover new threats and issue updates.
Glenn Fink, a research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, came up with the idea of copying ant behavior. PNNL, one of ten Department of Energy laboratories, conducts cutting-edge cybersecurity research.
Fink was familiar with Fulp's expertise developing faster scans using parallel processing – dividing computer data into batches like lines of shoppers going through grocery store checkouts, where each lane is focused on certain threats.
He invited Fulp and Wake Forest graduate students Wes Featherston and Brian Williams to join a project there this summer that tested digital ants on a network of 64 computers. SI, the approach developed by PNNL and Wake Forest, divides the process of searching for specific threats.
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