System and Method for Evaluating Cyber-Attacks on Aircraft

• US 20160358497A1
• Filed: 12/15/2014
• Published: 12/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Nguyen, Daniel, Shelton, Jason W., Mitchell, Timothy M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/085 Special purpose teaching, e.g. alighting on water, aerial photography
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/16 Ambient or aircraft conditions simulated or indicated by instrument or alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A system for evaluating a cyber-attack on an aircraft may include a display associated with the aircraft, a sensor system configured to generate sensor data for a pilot, and a data processing system configured to: (1) generate simulation data, (2) generate a flight simulation from the simulation data, (3) simulate the cyber-attack on at least one aircraft system during the flight simulation, (4) generate virtual flight data during the flight simulation, and (5) present the sensor data and the virtual flight data.

Claims

1. A system for evaluating a cyber-attack on an aircraft, said system comprising:

a display associated with said aircraft;

a sensor system configured to generate sensor data for a pilot; and

a data processing system configured to;

generate simulation data;

generate a flight simulation from said simulation data;

simulate said cyber-attack on at least one aircraft system during said flight simulation;

generate virtual flight data during said flight simulation; and

present said sensor data and said virtual flight data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said data processing system is further configured to assess an impact of said cyber-attack on said aircraft from at least one of said sensor data and said virtual flight data.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said data processing system is further configured to assess an impact of said cyber-attack on said pilot from at least one of said sensor data and said virtual flight data.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said data processing system is further configured to generate at least one virtual component, said virtual component representing a component of said aircraft system.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said data processing system is further configured to assess an impact of said cyber-attack on said virtual component from said virtual flight data.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said simulation data comprises at least one of virtual component data, physical condition data, and cyber-attack data.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said sensor system comprises at least one eye tracking optical sensor.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said sensor data comprises at least one of a location of pilot gaze and a duration of pilot gaze at said location.

9. A method for evaluating a cyber-attack on an aircraft, said method comprising:

generating a flight simulation;

simulating said cyber-attack on at least one aircraft system during said flight simulation;

generating sensor data for a pilot during said flight simulation;

generating virtual flight data during said flight simulation; and

assessing an impact of said cyber-attack on said aircraft.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein assessing said impact comprises quantifying an impact of said cyber-attack on said pilot from at least one of said sensor data and said virtual flight data.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating a cyber-attack defense from at least one of said sensor data and said virtual flight data to mitigate said impact of said cyber-attack; and

generating a pilot training module using said cyber-attack defense.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein said generating said sensor data comprises determining at least one of a location of pilot gaze and a duration of pilot gaze at said location.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein generating said flight simulation comprises:

generating simulation data, said simulation data comprising at least one of virtual component data, physical condition data, and cyber-attack data; and

processing said simulation data; and

presenting said simulation data on a display associated with said aircraft.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein simulating said cyber-attack comprises:

generating at least one virtual component, said virtual component representing a component of said aircraft system; and

effecting said virtual component in response to said cyber-attack.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein assessing said impact comprises quantifying said impact of said cyber-attack on said virtual component from said virtual flight data.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating a cyber-attack defense from said virtual flight data to mitigate said impact of said cyber-attack; and

modifying said component using said cyber-attack defense.

17. A computer program product for evaluating a cyber-attack on an aircraft, said computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program code, stored on said non-transitory computer readable medium, for;

generating at least one virtual component, said virtual component representing a component of said aircraft;

generating simulation data;

generating a flight simulation from said simulation data;

simulating said cyber-attack on said virtual component during said flight simulation;

generating sensor data for a pilot during said flight simulation;

generating virtual flight data during said flight simulation; and

assessing an impact of said cyber-attack on said aircraft from at least one of said sensor data and said virtual flight data.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein said simulation data comprises at least one of virtual component data, physical condition data, and cyber-attack data.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein said sensor data comprises at least one of a location of pilot gaze and a duration of pilot gaze at said location.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein said virtual flight data comprises response data for said virtual component following said cyber-attack.