Short description and motivation
Digital twins can provide a safe and controlled environment for testing cyber attacks against complex cyber-physical systems without affecting the real system. However, their usefulness for cybersecurity depends on how accurately the digital twin represents the security-relevant behaviour of the physical system. This thesis will investigate how digital twins can support cybersecurity testing and cyber-resilience assessment, using a manageable simulated cyber-physical system such as an autonomous vessel, industrial process or IoT system.
Main objective
The main objective is to develop and experimentally evaluate a digital-twin-based approach for cybersecurity testing and investigate how model fidelity affects the representation and evaluation of cyber attacks.
Tasks to be followed for completion
- Review literature on digital twins, cybersecurity testing, model fidelity and cyber resilience.
- Select a manageable cyber-physical system and define relevant threats and attack scenarios.
- Design and implement a digital-twin-based cybersecurity testing environment.
- Conduct controlled cyber attack experiments and compare the behaviour of different model representations.
- Analyse the results and critically assess the relationship between model fidelity, testing validity and cyber-resilience assessment.
Suggested references
- Suhail, S., Iqbal, M., et al. (2023). ENIGMA: An explainable digital twin security solution for cyber-physical systems. Computers in Industry.
- Sayghe, A. (2025). Digital Twin-Driven Intrusion Detection for Industrial SCADA: A Cyber-Physical Case Study. Sensors.
- Dietz, M., Schlette, D., & Pernul, G. (2022). Harnessing Digital Twin Security Simulations for systematic Cyber Threat Intelligence. COMPSAC 2022.
- Hueros-Barrios, P. J., Espolio-Maestro, J., et al. (2026). Real-time digital twin prototype for cyber-physical analysis of anomalies in PV-PEM-BESS systems for green hydrogen production. Sustainable Energy Grids & Networks.