Synesthesia-Based Automation System Message Encryption

Summary

Automated systems that run factories and the power grid rely on mathematical manipulation of character strings for command, control and measurement (SCADA). These strings are encrypted for security, but encryption is convoluted and history has shown that hackers can infiltrate these systems. This invention is a process for converting characters into colors, using concepts based on synesthesia, and hiding command/control and measurement messaging in imaging using steganographic principles. The transport of such information can be made using a typical video VLAN structure. Thus we make it exceptionally difficult for a hacker to detect or decode/decipher SCADA traffic. This process is unique in its ability to obfuscate and to evade detection and decryption via reverse engineering and deconvolving/decryption methods, making automation systems virtually impenetrable.

Description

This invention takes messages in industrial systems, changes them into colors, and hides them inside a picture, essentially hiding a color string inside a static image that updates and rotates every 2 seconds. No ASCII characters are transmitted – only colors – making it extremely difficult for encryption deciphering. Cybersecurity relies on encrypting messages in an automated system, but hackers can determine the VLAN address and hack into the message themselves, and manipulate the message to change the system. This technology presents a different method for automation system message security based on steganographic principles coupled with synesthesia-based message encoding with the resultant being transported on a utility substation VLAN. Synesthesia is a condition in which individuals perceive sounds, letters, or numbers as colors – present in less than 4 percent of the population. Tools for entertainment allow individuals to enter character strings into a synesthesia application and generate the associated color output of that character string (e.g. synesthesia.me). Layering such a color-encoded sequence into/onto an image, then transmitting that in a utility’s video camera VLAN leads to the difficulties that are inherent in attempting to extract/insert SCADA messaging from control center to substation, for example. This obscuration framework for translating colors to characters provides a unique opportunity to embed instructions in images without the residual fingerprints of traditional steganography methods which can be detected by digital forensics. Coupled with traditional, secure network design, this design provides a robust multi-dimensional, mathematics-based instruction transmission scheme.

Applications and Industries

• Any automated industrial system
• Power grid operators, substation infrastructure
• Factories

Benefits

• Virtually impenetrable by hackers
• No alternative encryption schemes exist for automation systems
• System uses constantly changing colors and images, no characters
• Can add additional layers of protection