Detecting cyber attacks against railroad control systems

Details

Supervisors

Sadre, Ramin ; Pelsser, Cristel

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences informatiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

This master thesis presents the design and implementation of a system for detecting anomalies in railway signaling communications within the European Train Control System (ETCS). The work focuses on building a finite state machine (FSM) model based on the official ERTMS/ETCS specifications, capable of parsing and analyzing Network Transmission Gateway (NTG) logs. By combining rule-based verification of state transitions with intrusion detection concepts, the system identifies inconsistencies and potential security threats in the communication flow. The proposed approach is validated through experimental evaluation on real NTG log data, demonstrating its effectiveness in detecting both operational anomalies and attack scenarios. The results highlight the importance of FSM-based monitoring as a complementary tool to enhance the cybersecurity and resilience of ETCS infrastructures.