Security Quantification for Discrete Event Systems Based on the Worth of States

Sian Zhou, Jiaxin Yu, Li Yin () and Zhiwu Li
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Sian Zhou: School of Computer Science and Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR 999078, China
Jiaxin Yu: Hitachi Building Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., No. 2 Nanxiang 3rd Road, Guangzhou 510613, China
Li Yin: Institute of Systems Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR 999078, China
Zhiwu Li: Institute of Systems Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macau SAR 999078, China

Mathematics, 2023, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: This work addresses the problem of quantifying opacity for discrete event systems. We consider a passive intruder who knows the overall structure of a system but has limited observational capabilities and tries to infer the secret of this system based on the captured information flow. Researchers have developed various approaches to quantify opacity to compensate for the lack of precision of qualitative opacity in describing the degree of security of a system. Most existing works on quantifying opacity study specified probabilistic problems in the framework of probabilistic systems, where the behaviors or states of a system are classified as secret or non-secret. In this work, we quantify opacity by a state-worth function, which associates each state of a system with the worth it carries. To this end, we present a novel category of opacity, called worthy opacity, characterizing whether the worth of information exposed to the outside world during the system’s evolution is below a threshold. We first provide an online approach for verifying worthy opacity using the notion of a run matrix proposed in this research. Then, we investigate a class of systems satisfying the so-called 1-cycle returned property and present a worthy opacity verification algorithm for this class. Finally, an example in the context of smart buildings is provided.

Keywords: discrete event systems; opacity; automata; smart building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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