Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin

Taru Itäpelto; Mohammed Elhajj; Marten van Sinderen; Maria Iacob

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin

Taru Itäpelto^*
, Mohammed Elhajj
, Marten van Sinderen
, Maria Iacob

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

1 Citation (Scopus)

103 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The transformation of previously isolated Critical Infrastructures (CIs) into intricate Systems-of-Systems has rendered them vulnerable to various threats. CIs are characterized by long life cycles and high availability requirements, which pose significant challenges in maintaining cybersecurity throughout their operational life cycle. Existing testing methodologies prove inadequate and may compromise the CI’s operational continuity. This paper proposes to shift testing activities to a Digital Twin (DT) connected to the CI. The DT provides a digital counterpart of the real system, enabling cost-effective testing without compromising operational integrity. For this approach, we present an enterprise architecture called the cybersecurity DT reference architecture. Through a camera surveillance system use case, we demonstrate the feasibility of this reference architecture, focusing on what-if testing using DT-enabled attack simulations. We show how to enhance decision-making when evaluating system configurations and how to deploy optimized configurations to the real system.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Monika Kaczmarek-Heß, Kristina Rosenthal, Marek Suchánek, Miguel Mira Da Silva, Henderik A. Proper, Marianne Schnellmann
Publisher	Springer
Pages	389-404
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-031-79059-1
ISBN (Print)	978-3-031-79058-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24
Publication status	Published - 2025
Event	28th International Conference on Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing, EDOC 2024 - Vienna, Austria Duration: 10 Sept 2024 → 13 Sept 2024 Conference number: 28

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Publisher	Springer
Volume	537
ISSN (Print)	1865-1348
ISSN (Electronic)	1865-1356

Conference

Conference	28th International Conference on Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing, EDOC 2024
Abbreviated title	EDOC 2024
Country/Territory	Austria
City	Vienna
Period	10/09/24 → 13/09/24

Keywords

2025 OA procedure
cybersecurity
Digital Twin
DT
Enterprise Architecture
Critical Infrastructure

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

ArticleFinal published version, 3.36 MBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

Itäpelto, T., Elhajj, M., van Sinderen, M., & Iacob, M. (2025). Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin. In M. Kaczmarek-Heß, K. Rosenthal, M. Suchánek, M. M. Da Silva, H. A. Proper, & M. Schnellmann (Eds.), Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 389-404). (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing; Vol. 537). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

Itäpelto, Taru ; Elhajj, Mohammed ; van Sinderen, Marten et al. / Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin. Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers. editor / Monika Kaczmarek-Heß ; Kristina Rosenthal ; Marek Suchánek ; Miguel Mira Da Silva ; Henderik A. Proper ; Marianne Schnellmann. Springer, 2025. pp. 389-404 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing).

@inproceedings{6c441264dc924341bbcae604d4ae8be9,

title = "Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin",

abstract = "The transformation of previously isolated Critical Infrastructures (CIs) into intricate Systems-of-Systems has rendered them vulnerable to various threats. CIs are characterized by long life cycles and high availability requirements, which pose significant challenges in maintaining cybersecurity throughout their operational life cycle. Existing testing methodologies prove inadequate and may compromise the CI{\textquoteright}s operational continuity. This paper proposes to shift testing activities to a Digital Twin (DT) connected to the CI. The DT provides a digital counterpart of the real system, enabling cost-effective testing without compromising operational integrity. For this approach, we present an enterprise architecture called the cybersecurity DT reference architecture. Through a camera surveillance system use case, we demonstrate the feasibility of this reference architecture, focusing on what-if testing using DT-enabled attack simulations. We show how to enhance decision-making when evaluating system configurations and how to deploy optimized configurations to the real system.",

keywords = "2025 OA procedure, cybersecurity, Digital Twin, DT, Enterprise Architecture, Critical Infrastructure",

author = "Taru It{\"a}pelto and Mohammed Elhajj and \{van Sinderen\}, Marten and Maria Iacob",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.; 28th International Conference on Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing, EDOC 2024, EDOC 2024 ; Conference date: 10-09-2024 Through 13-09-2024",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1\_24",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-3-031-79058-4",

series = "Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing",

publisher = "Springer",

pages = "389--404",

editor = "Monika Kaczmarek-He{\ss} and Kristina Rosenthal and Marek Such{\'a}nek and \{Da Silva\}, \{Miguel Mira\} and Proper, \{Henderik A.\} and Marianne Schnellmann",

booktitle = "Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers",

address = "Germany",

}

Itäpelto, T, Elhajj, M, van Sinderen, M & Iacob, M 2025, Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin. in M Kaczmarek-Heß, K Rosenthal, M Suchánek, MM Da Silva, HA Proper & M Schnellmann (eds), Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 537, Springer, pp. 389-404, 28th International Conference on Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing, EDOC 2024, Vienna, Austria, 10/09/24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin. / Itäpelto, Taru; Elhajj, Mohammed; van Sinderen, Marten et al.
Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Monika Kaczmarek-Heß; Kristina Rosenthal; Marek Suchánek; Miguel Mira Da Silva; Henderik A. Proper; Marianne Schnellmann. Springer, 2025. p. 389-404 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing; Vol. 537).

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

TY - GEN

T1 - Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin

AU - Itäpelto, Taru

AU - Elhajj, Mohammed

AU - van Sinderen, Marten

AU - Iacob, Maria

N1 - Conference code: 28

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - The transformation of previously isolated Critical Infrastructures (CIs) into intricate Systems-of-Systems has rendered them vulnerable to various threats. CIs are characterized by long life cycles and high availability requirements, which pose significant challenges in maintaining cybersecurity throughout their operational life cycle. Existing testing methodologies prove inadequate and may compromise the CI’s operational continuity. This paper proposes to shift testing activities to a Digital Twin (DT) connected to the CI. The DT provides a digital counterpart of the real system, enabling cost-effective testing without compromising operational integrity. For this approach, we present an enterprise architecture called the cybersecurity DT reference architecture. Through a camera surveillance system use case, we demonstrate the feasibility of this reference architecture, focusing on what-if testing using DT-enabled attack simulations. We show how to enhance decision-making when evaluating system configurations and how to deploy optimized configurations to the real system.

AB - The transformation of previously isolated Critical Infrastructures (CIs) into intricate Systems-of-Systems has rendered them vulnerable to various threats. CIs are characterized by long life cycles and high availability requirements, which pose significant challenges in maintaining cybersecurity throughout their operational life cycle. Existing testing methodologies prove inadequate and may compromise the CI’s operational continuity. This paper proposes to shift testing activities to a Digital Twin (DT) connected to the CI. The DT provides a digital counterpart of the real system, enabling cost-effective testing without compromising operational integrity. For this approach, we present an enterprise architecture called the cybersecurity DT reference architecture. Through a camera surveillance system use case, we demonstrate the feasibility of this reference architecture, focusing on what-if testing using DT-enabled attack simulations. We show how to enhance decision-making when evaluating system configurations and how to deploy optimized configurations to the real system.

KW - 2025 OA procedure

KW - cybersecurity

KW - Digital Twin

KW - DT

KW - Enterprise Architecture

KW - Critical Infrastructure

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85219182973

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85219182973

SN - 978-3-031-79058-4

T3 - Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing

SP - 389

EP - 404

BT - Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers

A2 - Kaczmarek-Heß, Monika

A2 - Rosenthal, Kristina

A2 - Suchánek, Marek

A2 - Da Silva, Miguel Mira

A2 - Proper, Henderik A.

A2 - Schnellmann, Marianne

PB - Springer

T2 - 28th International Conference on Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing, EDOC 2024

Y2 - 10 September 2024 through 13 September 2024

ER -

Itäpelto T, Elhajj M, van Sinderen M, Iacob M. Reference Architecture of Cybersecurity Digital Twin. In Kaczmarek-Heß M, Rosenthal K, Suchánek M, Da Silva MM, Proper HA, Schnellmann M, editors, Enterprise Design, Operations, and Computing. EDOC 2024 Workshops - iRESEARCH, MIDas4CS, Doctoral Consortium, Joint CBI–EDOC Forum and Other Joint CBI-EDOC Events, Revised Selected Papers. Springer. 2025. p. 389-404. (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing). Epub 2025 Feb 9. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-79059-1_24