• Featured in Physics

Cyberphysical risks of hacked internet-connected vehicles

Skanda Vivek, David Yanni, Peter J. Yunker, and Jesse L. Silverberg
Phys. Rev. E 100, 012316 – Published 30 July 2019
Physics logo See Synopsis: When Cyberattacks Bring Traffic to a Halt
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

The integration of automotive technology with internet connectivity promises to both dramatically improve transportation while simultaneously introducing the potential for new unknown risks. Internet-connected vehicles are like digital data because they can be targeted for malicious hacking. Unlike digital data, however, internet-connected vehicles are cyberphysical systems that physically interact with each other and their environment. As such, the extension of cybersecurity concerns into the cyberphysical domain introduces new possibilities for self-organized phenomena in traffic flow. Here we study a scenario envisioned by cybersecurity experts leading to a large number of internet-connected vehicles being suddenly and simultaneously disabled. We investigate posthack traffic using agent-based simulations and discover the critical relevance of percolation for probabilistically predicting the outcomes on a multilane road in the immediate aftermath of a vehicle-targeted cyberattack. We develop an analytic percolation-based model to rapidly assess road conditions given the density of disabled vehicles and apply it to study the street network of Manhattan (New York City, New York, USA) revealing the city's vulnerability to this particular cyberphysical attack. While a comprehensive investigation of city-scale traffic around hacked vehicles is an extremely complicated problem, we find that the statistical physics of percolation can provide an estimate of the number of vehicles that critically disrupts citywide traffic flow. Our upper-bound estimate represents a quantification of citywide traffic disruptions when multiple vehicles are hacked.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 1 March 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.100.012316

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

NetworksStatistical Physics & ThermodynamicsInterdisciplinary PhysicsNonlinear Dynamics

Synopsis

Key Image

When Cyberattacks Bring Traffic to a Halt

Published 30 July 2019

Researchers calculated the number of cars that hackers would have to bring down in order to cripple Manhattan traffic.

See more in Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Skanda Vivek*,†, David Yanni*,‡, and Peter J. Yunker§

  • School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA

Jesse L. Silverberg

  • Multiscale Systems, Inc., Division of Sciences and Engineering, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609, USA

  • *These authors contributed equally to this paper.
  • skanda.vivek@gmail.com
  • dyanni3@gatech.edu
  • §Corresponding author: peter.yunker@gatech.edu
  • Corresponding author: js@mss.science

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 100, Iss. 1 — July 2019

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review E

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×