Risk analysis and secure protocol design for WWW-based remote control with operation-privilege management

The paper discusses security issues related to the use of the Internet for remote control of decentralized systems. After conducting risk analysis based on the detection of potential threats, we designed a Secure Tele-operation Protocol (STP) specification for Internet-based control systems. STP is an XML-based protocol that manages operation privileges for each online operator. If STP is used with intelligent agents, remote manipulation can be protected from both illegal interference and malicious access. Moreover, among the authenticated operators, operation privileges are negotiable for transfer to other authorized remote operators.