Researchers have developed new technology to protect governments, businesses and other organizations from cyberattacks by monitoring for unusual power consumption.
Researchers have developed new technology to protect governments, businesses and other organizations from cyberattacks by monitoring for unusual power consumption.
The technology combines a small piece of hardware to collect data with artificial intelligence (AI) software that can determine if power usage in a system is inconsistent with known, predictable patterns. If so, the AI sends an alert to security officials within the organization that its infrastructure might be under attack by hackers or malicious ransomware stealing or locking crucial information.
“If suddenly, for instance, several machines exhibit a similar pattern of high-power usage in specific patterns, we would raise an alert that there might be spreading crypto-ransomware in the network,” said Sebastian Fischmeister, an engineering and computer science professor at the University of Waterloo.
The research team and spinoff company Palitronica Inc. are now testing the technology – which is designed to complement, not replace, existing security controls such as network intrusion detection – in several Ontario municipalities, with a dozen more interested in participating.
Read more at University of Waterloo
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