Abstract
Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are characterized by the close linkage of computational resources and
physical devices. These systems can be deployed in a number of critical infrastructure settings.
As a result, the security requirements of CPS are different than traditional computing architectures.
For example, critical functions must be identified and isolated from interference by other functions.
Similarly, lightweight schemes may be required, as CPS can include devices with limited computing power.
One approach that offers promise for CPS security is the use of lightweight, hardware-based
authentication. Specifically, we consider the use of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs) to bind
an access request to specific hardware with device-specific keys. PUFs are implemented in hardware,
such as SRAM, and can be used to uniquely identify the device. This technology could be used in CPS
to ensure location-based access control and encryption, both of which would be desirable for CPS
implementations.