"Researchers Unveil New Cyber Protections against 'Logic Bombs'"

A team of cybersecurity researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the Georgia Institute of Technology proposed new methods for protecting drones, prostheses, medical devices, and other 3D-printed objects from logic bombs. Rapid prototyping refers to the quick fabrication of a part, model, or assembly using 3D computer-aided design, typically involving 3D printing or additive manufacturing. The use of additive manufacturing is growing in various industries to produce safety-critical products. However, there is currently a lack of trustworthy methods for verifying the integrity of such products against adversarial pre-print design modifications. While next-generation cyber-physical additive manufacturing allows for advanced product designs and capabilities, it is vulnerable to cyberattacks as it increasingly relies on highly networked industrial control systems. The main approach to protecting against such threats relies on host-based intrusion detectors placed within the same target controllers, typically making them the first target of controller attacks. The researchers explored a new class of attacks on printed objects called Mystique that uses emerging 4D printing technology to introduce embedded computer code, known as logic bombs, through the manipulation of the manufacturing process. Mystique causes visually harmless objects to behave maliciously when a logic bomb is triggered by modifications to initially used materials or temperature changes, moisture, or other stimulus changes. The evaluation of Mystique on several 3D printing case studies revealed that it could circumvent prior protections. The researchers proposed two strategies to address this issue. This article continues to discuss the increased vulnerability of additive manufacturing to cyberattacks and solutions proposed by the researchers to protect 3D-printed objects from stealthy logic bombs. 

Rutgers University reports "Researchers Unveil New Cyber Protections against 'Logic Bombs'"