Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata

Nicolas David; Alexandre David; René Rydhof Hansen; Kim G. Larsen; Axel Legay; Mads Chr. Olesen; Christian W. Probst

doi:10.1145/2808783.2808787

Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata

Nicolas David, Alexandre David, René Rydhof Hansen, Kim G. Larsen, Axel Legay, Mads Chr. Olesen, Christian W. Probst

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

16 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Attacks on a system often exploit vulnerabilities that arise from human behaviour or other human activity. Attacks of this type, so-called socio-technical attacks, cover everything from social engineering to insider attacks, and they can have a devastating impact on an unprepared organisation. In this paper we develop an approach towards modelling socio-technical systems in general and socio-technical attacks in particular, using timed automata and illustrate its application by a complex case study. Thanks to automated model checking and automata theory, we can automatically generate possible attacks in our model and perform analysis and simulation of both model and attack, revealing details about the specific interaction between attacker and victim. Using timed automata also allows for intuitive modelling of systems, in which quantities like time and cost can be easily added and analysed.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	MIST '15
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	21-28
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4503-3824-0
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2808783.2808787
Publication status	Published - 12 Oct 2015
Event	7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats, MIST 2015 - Denver, United States Duration: 16 Oct 2015 → 16 Oct 2015 Conference number: 7

Conference

Conference	7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats, MIST 2015
Abbreviated title	MIST
Country/Territory	United States
City	Denver
Period	16/10/15 → 16/10/15

Keywords

EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/318003
EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/2007-2013
Timed automata
Attack trees
Insider threats
Attack generation
n/a OA procedure

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10.1145/2808783.2808787

Cite this

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title = "Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata",

abstract = "Attacks on a system often exploit vulnerabilities that arise from human behaviour or other human activity. Attacks of this type, so-called socio-technical attacks, cover everything from social engineering to insider attacks, and they can have a devastating impact on an unprepared organisation. In this paper we develop an approach towards modelling socio-technical systems in general and socio-technical attacks in particular, using timed automata and illustrate its application by a complex case study. Thanks to automated model checking and automata theory, we can automatically generate possible attacks in our model and perform analysis and simulation of both model and attack, revealing details about the specific interaction between attacker and victim. Using timed automata also allows for intuitive modelling of systems, in which quantities like time and cost can be easily added and analysed.",

keywords = "EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/318003, EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/2007-2013, Timed automata, Attack trees, Insider threats, Attack generation, n/a OA procedure",

author = "Nicolas David and Alexandre David and Hansen, {Ren{\'e} Rydhof} and Larsen, {Kim G.} and Axel Legay and Olesen, {Mads Chr.} and Probst, {Christian W.}",

year = "2015",

month = oct,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1145/2808783.2808787",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-4503-3824-0",

pages = "21--28",

booktitle = "MIST '15",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats, MIST 2015, MIST ; Conference date: 16-10-2015 Through 16-10-2015",

}

David, N, David, A, Hansen, RR, Larsen, KG, Legay, A, Olesen, MC & Probst, CW 2015, Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata. in MIST '15: Proceedings of the 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, pp. 21-28, 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats, MIST 2015, Denver, Colorado, United States, 16/10/15. https://doi.org/10.1145/2808783.2808787

Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata. / David, Nicolas; David, Alexandre; Hansen, René Rydhof et al.
MIST '15: Proceedings of the 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery, 2015. p. 21-28.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata

AU - David, Nicolas

AU - David, Alexandre

AU - Hansen, René Rydhof

AU - Larsen, Kim G.

AU - Legay, Axel

AU - Olesen, Mads Chr.

AU - Probst, Christian W.

N1 - Conference code: 7

PY - 2015/10/12

Y1 - 2015/10/12

N2 - Attacks on a system often exploit vulnerabilities that arise from human behaviour or other human activity. Attacks of this type, so-called socio-technical attacks, cover everything from social engineering to insider attacks, and they can have a devastating impact on an unprepared organisation. In this paper we develop an approach towards modelling socio-technical systems in general and socio-technical attacks in particular, using timed automata and illustrate its application by a complex case study. Thanks to automated model checking and automata theory, we can automatically generate possible attacks in our model and perform analysis and simulation of both model and attack, revealing details about the specific interaction between attacker and victim. Using timed automata also allows for intuitive modelling of systems, in which quantities like time and cost can be easily added and analysed.

AB - Attacks on a system often exploit vulnerabilities that arise from human behaviour or other human activity. Attacks of this type, so-called socio-technical attacks, cover everything from social engineering to insider attacks, and they can have a devastating impact on an unprepared organisation. In this paper we develop an approach towards modelling socio-technical systems in general and socio-technical attacks in particular, using timed automata and illustrate its application by a complex case study. Thanks to automated model checking and automata theory, we can automatically generate possible attacks in our model and perform analysis and simulation of both model and attack, revealing details about the specific interaction between attacker and victim. Using timed automata also allows for intuitive modelling of systems, in which quantities like time and cost can be easily added and analysed.

KW - EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/318003

KW - EC Grant Agreement nr.: FP7/2007-2013

KW - Timed automata

KW - Attack trees

KW - Insider threats

KW - Attack generation

KW - n/a OA procedure

U2 - 10.1145/2808783.2808787

DO - 10.1145/2808783.2808787

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-1-4503-3824-0

SP - 21

EP - 28

BT - MIST '15

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York, NY

T2 - 7th ACM CCS International Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats, MIST 2015

Y2 - 16 October 2015 through 16 October 2015

ER -

Modelling Social-Technical Attacks with Timed Automata

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Keywords

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