UAH | News | The University of Alabama in Huntsville

(L-R) Dr. Tommy Morris, CCRE director, congratulates Dr. Rishabh Das on earning his doctorate.

Courtesy Rishabh Das

Transforming doctoral research into patented technology is a challenging achievement, particularly while completing a Ph.D. Dr. Aaron Werth and Dr. Rishabh Das, former doctoral students at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, successfully navigated this process, earning U.S. patents for innovative cybersecurity technologies developed through their dissertation research at UAH’s Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education (CCRE).

Based on his dissertation, Werth’s patent, titled “Embedded intrusion prevention system for industrial controllers,” detects and protects programming logic controllers, or PLCs, from commands or ladder logic uploads that would harm the physical process that the PLC manages. A PLC is a specialized “hardened” industrial computer that automates, controls and monitors critical infrastructure, such as manufacturing or power grids. Due to increased networking, PLCs are high-value targets; breaches can cause significant production shutdowns, equipment damage or public safety hazards.

Werth developed the project as a Ph.D. student and subsequently a Ph.D. candidate, spending over three years evolving the concept.

Dr. Aaron Werth displays his patent at the UAH Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education.

Courtesy Aaron Werth

“Other graduate students were focusing more on anomaly-based detection methods, and they developed comprehensive approaches for anomaly detection which were very good,” the researcher explains. “I wanted to focus on a different threat – one that appears very normal and not anomalous in its behavior.”

Werth reports the biggest challenge proved to be developing “an effective mechanism to detect harmful packets and ladder logic, which appear normal,” adding it was “not completely apparent how to create such a…

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