Securing Underwater Data Centers from Acoustic Attacks: Defense Systems & Surveillance Capabilities
Abstract
We propose to design a software defense system and intelligent surveillance strategies for physical/remote acoustic attacks on hardware storage drives of Underwater Data Centers (UDCs). Our investigations include the design and development of comprehensive preventive and reactive measures against such attacks on a real prototype deployed in real-world setups. First, we will explore methods toidentify vulnerable areas that an assailant (human divers or underwater ROVs) may exploit to carry out acoustic attacks. We will investigate the infrared and thermal signatures generated by UDC storage devices to identify and localize vulnerable spots. We will then investigate the feasibility of exploiting these information for acoustic attacks by various acoustic sources. Secondly, we will investigate application-independent transferable data recovery modules that can be integrated with existing architectures to defend against physical or remote acoustic attacks to UDCs. We will also develop an agent-based surveillance system for long-term monitoringof UDCs from physical attacks.Our experiments will be conducted on an actual UDC prototype pod with operational servers deployed underwater. While our bench-tests will be conducted in laboratory water tanks, the initial deployments will be in a closed-water lake at 40 -50 depths and the final ocean deployments will be at 100 -120 depths in a coastal testbed. Such comprehensive deployment and evaluation setup will facilitate realistic and long-term operational assessments of the developed systems and integrated security algorithms. Overall, the expected outcomes of this project are: (i) methods to detect, isolate, and localize hardware vulnerabilities in UDCs from acoustic attacks; (ii) a software stack to defend against such attacks to ensure data availability and integrity; (iii) design principles and deployment strategies to eliminate/mitigate external acoustic interference; and (iv) an agent-based surveillance system to monitor and safeguard UDCs from adversarial attacks. These outcomes will ensure safe and effective deployments of subsea cloud platforms of the future, particularly in applications such as low-latency communications for submarines and stealth UUVs,strategic surveillance and security, remote subsea monitoring, and disaster recovery missions.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 09, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412596
Entities
People
- Jahidul Islam
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Florida