Dear Colleagues,

With the recent widespread increase in new hardware and software configurations that create smart and autonomous devices, cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are shifting the way we interact with the physical world. These CPSs are systems that connect computing and communication aspects in cyberspace and actively and autonomously perform cognition, judgment, and behavior.

In general, CPSs refer to computer-based components and systems that closely connect and utilize the real world and the digital models of the cyber world based on open services that access and process information through networks such as the Internet of Things (IoT).

These CPS applications can provide important services in various application areas such as manufacturing, medicine, energy management, traffic control, industrial measurement and monitoring, environmental and process control, etc. The performance of a CPS’ internal functions and processes depends heavily on the design and optimization of intelligent models and security algorithms. As such, CPSs are an important part of the economic and social processes of everyday life, which can increase concerns about cybersecurity and the safety aspects of the entire system.

Unintended malicious threats to CPSs can have a significant impact on the lifestyle of the environment in which we interact with the physical world. Therefore, it is very important to ensure the security of CPSs and related support systems. In addition, resilient services in CPSs are vital to provide an acceptable level of operational normality, such as state recognition, disability recognition, and response.

In the future, it will be necessary to design security algorithms and architectures to prevent data threats to CPS systems in the industrial Internet (IIoT) environment and to establish cybersecurity measures with innovative ideas and methods.

Meanwhile, a learning model that predicts and identifies future CPS security threats by reflecting recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to identify the malicious behavior of intruders and other cyber threats. In addition, technologies such as blockchain and cloud computing can contribute to effectively protecting cybersecurity in CPS systems.

This Special Issue of "Security Research and Challenges in Cyber-Physical Systems" publishes high-quality research papers, including discussing and reviewing various challenges and opportunities for implementing next-generation cybersecurity in CPS. This Special Issue targets academic and industrial researchers, engineers, and practitioners interested in intelligent models of CPS systems, cybersecurity and resilience issues. In addition, as a way to enhance security without compromising system availability, which is important for all CPS security issues, we would like to address, in depth, how to use artificial intelligence (AI) and the recent application of blockchain technology. This Special Issue provides new ideologies, methodologies, and solutions for addressing these challenges.

The Special Issue will select papers related to the following topics but will not be limited to these:

• Data security in a cyber-physical system;
• Service resilience in a cyber-physical system;
• Intelligent models in a cyber-physical system;
• Artificial intelligence for enhancing cybersecurity in CPSs;
• Machine learning for cybersecurity and privacy protection in a CPS;
• Advanced secure data analytics for CPSs;
• Threat detection and reliable computing in a CPS;
• Advances in anomaly detection and resiliency for CPSs;
• Industrial CPSs and their transmission security;
• Blockchain and distributed ledger technology for enhancing security in CPSs;
• Enhancing cybersecurity for CPSs: a blockchain perspective;
• Advanced security measures for protecting sensitive details in CPSs;
• Recent developments in cybersecurity techniques for CPSs;
• Case studies: cybersecurity and intelligent models for CPSs;
• Security model of digital twin based on CPSs.

Dr. You-Jin Song
Prof. Dr. Howoon Kim
Dr. Hyun-Jong Cha

Guest Editors

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• cyber-physical systems
• industrial CPS
• intelligent cyber-physical system models
• data security
• service resilience
• machine learning and deep learning
• blockchain
• threat detection and reliability