Grant: Discovery Launch Supplement

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) have become pivotal in revolutionizing innovations for transportation efficiency. They are, in essence, a combination of advanced technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), edge/cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and wireless networks. They are indeed shaping the era of modern vehicles, namely connected and autonomous vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. While this transition brings enormous benefits regarding improved mobility, driving safety, increased economic growth, and reduced environmental impact, cybersecurity and data privacy are still major obstacles in our path. The increasing complexity, connectivity, and dynamicity of the infrastructure of ITSs, including vehicles, network channels, and backend systems, originate significant security and privacy challenges. Such infrastructure is an attractive target of cyberattacks to gain unauthorized access, manipulate sensitive data, and deny service operations, putting passenger safety and system reliability at serious risk. It operates with heterogeneous computational and bandwidth capacities. Visible minorities and marginalized groups may also face unprecedented risks, such as targeted phishing and social engineering attacks that can extend to cyberbullying through online platforms connected to ITSs. AI algorithms' increasing role in enriching automation in ITSs does not come with a safety guarantee either. They can further introduce discriminatory outcomes, such as biased surveillance practices and traffic enforcement. These unique challenges are overlooked by existing security solutions, necessitating a revolutionary paradigm. The proposed research program will make a breakthrough toward integrating security analytics in ITSs, by laying the foundations of the novel research paradigm of Proactive Security Analytics (PSA). This paradigm will embrace cross-phase defence tactics and multi-layer security measures that delineate the groundwork to interweave security throughout the software engineering lifecycle of ITSs and provides a defence-in-depth plan to address these challenges. This research program will spearhead the innovation in PSA by developing advanced AI-powered security analysis that goes beyond simple automation, striving to provide adaptive, robust, explainable, and equitable protection for ITSs while satisfying computing resource and network constraints. The success of this program cannot be envisioned without founding and training a diverse and inclusive HQP team to prepare them in an area of high market needs. The program's objectives will be conducted through a multi-stage research methodology: a) investigation, b) design and development, and c) practical evaluation and testing, involving two Ph.D., three M.Sc., and three undergrad students. The program's benefits will directly impact the Canadian economy by delivering end-to-end security solutions that can be adopted in the automotive/ transport industry.