The thesis, Intelligent Home Automation Security System Based on Novel Logical Sensing and Behavior Prediction, was designed to enhance authentication, authorization and security in smart home devices and services. The work proposes a three prong defensive strategy each of which are analyzed and evaluated separately to drastically improve security. The Device Fingerprinting techniques proposed, not only improves the existing approaches but also identifies the physical device accessing the home cybernetic and mechatronic systems using device specific and browser specific parameters. The Logical Sensing process analyses home inhabitant actions from a logical stand point and develops sophisticated and novel sensing techniques to identify intrusion attempts to a home’s physical and cyber space. Novel Behavior prediction methodology utilizes Bayesian networks to learn normal user behavior which is later compared to distinguish and identify suspicious user behaviors in the home in a timely manner. The logical sensing, behavior prediction and device fingerprinting techniques proposed were successfully tested, evaluated and verified in an actual home cyber physical system. The algorithms and techniques proposed in the thesis can be easily modified and adapted into many practical applications in Industrial Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical systems. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

<p dir="ltr">With the ability to connect to networks and send and receive data, Internet of Things (IoT) devices involve associated security risks and threats, for a given environment. These threats are even more of a concern in a Smart Home network, where there is a lack of a dedicated security IT team, unlike a corporate environment. While efficient user interface(UI) and ease of use is at the front and center of IoT devices within Smart Home which enables its wider adoption, often security and privacy have been an afterthought and haven’t kept pace when needed. Therefore, a unsafe possibility exists where malicious actors could exploit vulnerable devices in a domestic home environment.</p><p dir="ltr">This thesis involves a detailed study of the cybersecurity for a Smart Home and also examines the various types of cyberthreats encountered, such as DDoS, Man-In-Middle, Ransomware, etc. that IoT devices face. Given, IoT devices are commonplace in most home automation scenarios, its crucially important to detect intrusions and unauthorized access. Privacy issues are also involved making this an even more pertinent topic. Towards this, various state of the art industry standard tools, such as Nmap, Nessus, Metasploit, etc. were used to gather data on a Smart Home environment to analyze their impacts to detect security vulnerabilities and risks to a Smart Home. Results from the research indicated various vulnerabilities, such as open ports, password vulnerabilities, SSL certificate anomalies and others that exist in many cases, and how precautions when taken in timely manner can help alleviate and bring down those risks.</p><p dir="ltr">Also, an IoT monitoring dashboard was developed based on open-source tools, which helps visualize threats and emphasize the importance of monitoring. The IoT dashboard showed how to raise alerts and alarms based on specific threat conditions or events. In addition, currently available cybersecurity regulations, standards, and guidelines were also examined that can help safeguard against threats to commonly used IoT devices in a Smart Home. It is hoped that the research carried out in this dissertation can help maintain safe and secure Smart Homes and provide direction for future work in the area of Smart Home Cybersecurity.</p>