Distinguished Colloquium – Computer Science

Date: Monday, March 1, 2021 @10:00 am CST

Speaker: Prof. P. R. Kumar, Texas A&M University

Title: Security of Cyber-physical Systems

https://umsystem.zoom.us/j/91226409145 (Passcode: 1234)

Abstract: The coming decades may see the large-scale deployment of networked cyber–physical systems to address global needs in areas such as energy, water, health care, and transportation. However, as recent events have shown, such systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks. We begin by revisiting classical linear systems theory, developed in more innocent times, from a security-conscious, even paranoid, viewpoint. Then we present a general technique, called "dynamic watermarking," for detecting any sort of malicious activity in networked systems of sensors and actuators. We present a field test on an automobile, an experimental demonstration of this technique on an automobile on a test track, a process control system, a simulation study of defense against an attack on Automatic Gain Control (AGC) in a synthetic power system, and an emulated attack on a solar powered home.

Speaker’s Bio: Dr. P. R. Kumar is a Regents Professor, a University Distinguished Professor, Holder of the O’Donnell Foundation Chair I, and Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, and Franklin W. Woeltge Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is an Honorary Professor at IIT Hyderabad. His current focus includes 5G, Wireless Networks, Cybersecurity, Cyber-physical Systems, Privacy, Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management, Reinforcement Learning, Machine Learning, and Power Systems.

He obtained his B. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1973, and M.S. and D.Sc. from Washington University, St. Louis in 1975 and 1977, respectively. He was a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County from 1977-84, and a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the Univ of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign from 1985-2011. Since 2011 he has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University.

He received the IEEE Field Award for Control Systems, the Donald P. Eckman Award of the American Automatic Control Council, the Fred W. Ellersick Prize of the IEEE Communications Society, the Outstanding Contribution Award of ACM SIGMOBILE, the Infocom Achievement Award, the ACM SIGMOBILE Test-of-Time Paper Award, and the COMSNETS Outstanding Contribution Award. He is a Fellow of IEEE and ACM. He was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by ETH, Zurich. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, The World Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and The Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas. He was awarded a Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Madras, the Alumni Achievement Award from Washington University, St. Louis, and the Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.