Intelligent risk detection and analysis tools for critical infrastructure protection

The protection of the national infrastructures from cyber-attacks is one of the main issues for national and international security. In this article we describe a new European Framework-7 (FP7) funded research project, CockpicCI, and introduce intelligent rick detection, analysis and protection techniques for Critical Infrastructures (CI). The paradox is that CIs massively rely on the newest interconnected and vulnerable, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), while the control equipment, legacy software/hardware, is typically old. Such a combination of factors may lead to very dangerous situations, exposing systems to a wide variety of attacks. To overcome such threats, the CockpitCI project combines machine learning techniques with ICT technologies to produce advance intrusion detection and reaction tools to provide intelligence to field equipment. This will allow the field equipment to perform local decisions in order to self-identify and self-react to abnormal situations introduced by cyber-attacks.