Big data platform for integrated cyber and physical security of critical infrastructures for the financial sector: Critical infrastructures as cyber-physical systems

As critical infrastructures become more complex, sophisticated and digitally interconnected they are also more susceptible to cyber and physical security attacks. In order to mitigate the risks of such attacks, there is a need for securing them in an integrated way, which considers the simultaneous protection of their cyber and physical assets. In this paper we introduce a BigData platform that implements an integrated approach to securing and protecting critical infrastructures for the Uinancial sector, by treating them as large scale cyber-physical systems. The main building blocks of the platform include an integrated security model that covers cyber and physical assets, an architecture for security monitoring and control based on appropriate probes, as well as a range of data analytics algorithms for detecting risks, vulnerabilities and threats. These building blocks are outlined in the paper, along with their deployment and use in a number of representative critical infrastructure protection use cases for the Uinancial sector. One of the merits of our work is its reference character i.e. it can serve as a blueprint for developing and deploying systems for integrated cyber/physical security in various application areas.