# Analyzing Cyber-Physical Threats on Robotic Platforms +
###### Abstract  
Robots are increasingly involved in our daily lives. Fundamental to robots are the communication link (or stream) and the applications that connect the robots to their clients or users. Such communication link and applications are usually supported through client/server network connection. This networking system is amenable of being attacked and vulnerable to the security threats. Ensuring security and privacy for robotic platforms is thus critical, as failures and attacks could have devastating consequences. In this paper, we examine several cyber-physical security threats that are unique to the robotic platforms; specifically the communication link and the applications. Threats target integrity, availability and confidential security requirements of the robotic platforms, which use MobileEyes/arnlServer client/server applications. A robot attack tool (RAT) was developed to perform specific security attacks. An impact-oriented approach was adopted to analyze the assessment results of the attacks. Tests and experiments of attacks were conducted in simulation environment and physically on the robot. The simulation environment was based on MobileSim; a software tool for simulating, debugging and experimenting on MobileRobots/ActivMedia platforms and their environments. The robot platform PeopleBotTM was used for physical experiments. The analysis and testing results show that certain attacks were successful at breaching the robot security. Integrity attacks modified commands and manipulated the robot behavior. Availability attacks were able to cause Denial-of-Service (DoS) and the robot was not responsive to MobileEyes commands. Integrity and availability attacks caused sensitive information on the robot to be hijacked. To mitigate security threats, we provide possible mitigation techniques and suggestions to raise awareness of threats on the robotic platforms, especially when the robots are involved in critical missions or applications. mobile robot; robotic platform; cyber-physical systems; threats; security; risk management; risk assessment +  
(e.g., automobiles) and in medical settings, and, recently, autonomous cars are licensed in several states in the USA (e.g., Uber's self-driving cars in Arizona, Pittsburgh and California [1]). Furthermore, the future of autonomous or semi-autonomous robotics in civilian, industry and military fields, and in almost every field in our living world could solve many of the problems and save human lives, power and time [2]. For example, military autonomous robotics are being used in both air and ground maneuvers [3]. Ensuring security and privacy or simply cyber-security for the robotic platforms is thus critical, as failures and attacks could have devastating consequences. For example, let us consider some possible security and privacy issues related to a robotic mapping and localization application (i.e., Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) [4]). In such application, the robot would autonomously create a map of certain unknown environment and simultaneously localize itself in the constructed map. This requires bidirectional communication between the robot and the operator (user) to transmit commands and data. In a military application, these data are very important for performing surveillance and combat missions. Considering the previous application, what if an attacker or unauthorized entity managed to successfully cause loss of integrity, availability or confidentiality on the robotic system (i.e., the robot, controller, and the communication link)? The attacker may exploit certain vulnerabilities in the robotic system to take control over the robot. Consequently, in the worst case, the attacker may crash the robot ending the military operation. Furthermore, the attacker may override the commands of the legitimate controller and possibly cause harm to civilians using the robot's pre-installed military equipment. The previous attacks violate the integrity and availability of the robotic system.