Curriculum
Computer Science for Societal Challenges and Innovation, XXXIX series
Grant sponsor
Unismart - Fondazione Cariparo - Intesa Sanpaolo
Supervisor

Mauro Conti
Co-supervisor
s
TBD
Contact
alessandro.lotto@studenti.unipd.it

Project description
The increasing complexity of modern industrial and manufacturing network architectures, integrated with IoT devices, cloud computing, and remote work necessities, has rendered traditional perimeter-based security models inadequate to face modern cyber-threats. Devices or users location is no longer a valid discriminatory factor for trust. In response to the need for new security models, the Zero Trust (ZT) security paradigm, which removes the inherent trust assumption, has emerged. However, despite its advantages, the adoption of ZT remains limited due to challenges such as implementation complexity, scaling, resource constraints of IoT devices, compatibility with legacy systems, and lack of a deeper analysis of novel attacks.
This research project aims to develop new security mechanisms - and enhancing already existing ones - to favor the transition to ZT paradigm for the security of the industrial manufacturing chain. Specifically, the focus will be on designing security solutions to build and maintain a robust relationship of trust between involved entities (chain of trust), to the purpose of securing and optimizing the verification and validation processes of entities and devices accessing the network. By relying on a chain of trust, it is subsequently possible to enforce strict access controls, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access and potential security breaches. Furthermore, the proposed solutions will also take into consideration data privacy concerns by adopting proper cryptographic algorithms, and explore the integration of ZT into existing systems.