Cybersecurity is no longer a secondary concern. It has become a strategic priority across all industries. Attacks are increasing in frequency, growing in sophistication, and now target critical infrastructures, industrial systems, and complex engineered products.
Several factors explain this trend. The widespread adoption of connected systems significantly expands the attack surface. The growing interdependencies between systems make impacts harder to predict and contain. At the same time, traditional approaches, often document-based and introduced late in the lifecycle, are no longer sufficient to manage these risks effectively.
In this context, cybersecurity cannot be treated as an afterthought. It must be integrated from the earliest stages of system design.
Cyber threats go far beyond information systems
Cybersecurity has long been associated with IT systems. That is no longer the case.
Today, any system that includes even a minimal software component can be exposed to cyber threats. This includes industrial equipment, transportation systems, medical devices, energy infrastructures, and defense systems. Several real-world examples illustrate this shift.
In the medical domain, several connected devices have been shown to be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Security researchers have demonstrated that certain insulin pumps could be remotely manipulated to alter dosage delivery, while vulnerabilities in cardiac implantable devices such as pacemakers could allow attackers to interfere with communications or disrupt life-saving therapies. At the hospital level, equipment like CT scanners and MRI systems can also be targeted, with attack scenarios including device shutdown, parameter manipulation, or use as entry points into hospital networks through so-called “medjack” attacks.
Credit TrapX Research Labs © TrapX Software 2016. All Rights Reserved.
The industrial domains are also exposed. One of the most well-known examples is the Stuxnet attack, that destroyed approximately 1,000 nuclear centrifuges in Iran. The malware specifically targeted the control systems and caused physical damage to equipment by manipulating control signals while hiding the anomaly from operators.
This attack marked a turning point by demonstrating that cyberattacks can have direct physical consequences on engineered systems.
Credit L-Dopa
These examples highlight a key reality: complex systems in the physical world, primarily designed for physical functions, can also be exposed to cyber risks that can directly impact their behavior, safety, and availability.
As systems become more connected and software-driven, the boundary between digital and physical risks continues to blur. This makes it essential to address cybersecurity at the system level, across all domains.
What are the key principles of a cybersecurity protection approach?
Addressing cybersecurity effectively requires a structured and recognized approach. Frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) provide a solid reference, organized around five core functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF)
First, organizations must identify what needs to be protected. This includes understanding system boundaries, critical assets, dependencies, and potential vulnerabilities. Having a clear and shared view of the system is a prerequisite for any effective cybersecurity strategy.
Second, they must protect these assets by defining and implementing appropriate safeguards. This involves security requirements, access control mechanisms, secure architectures, and design choices that reduce exposure to threats from the outset.
Third, the ability to detect cybersecurity events is essential. Monitoring system behavior, identifying anomalies, and maintaining visibility over operations allow organizations to react quickly when something unexpected occurs.
Fourth, organizations must be prepared to respond. This includes having defined processes to contain incidents, mitigate their impact, and coordinate actions across stakeholders.
Finally, they need to recover. Ensuring system resilience, restoring capabilities, and integrating lessons learned are key to maintaining continuity and improving future responses.
Across all these functions, several transversal principles apply. Cybersecurity must be integrated early in the lifecycle, not added afterwards. A system-level perspective is essential to understand interactions and risks. Continuous risk assessment is required as both systems and threats evolve. Collaboration between stakeholders is critical, as cybersecurity spans multiple domains. Finally, traceability ensures consistency between risks, requirements, and mitigation measures.
This structured approach provides a strong foundation, but its effectiveness largely depends on the ability to understand and manage system complexity. This is precisely where MBSE brings significant value.
How MBSE strengthens cybersecurity strategies
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) provides a powerful framework to address these challenges.
By relying on structured system models rather than fragmented documents, MBSE offers a global and consistent view of the system's architecture. This shared representation makes it easier for all stakeholders to collaborate, align their understanding, and identify potential vulnerabilities.
MBSE models explicitly capture system architecture, interfaces, data flows, and dependencies. This visibility is essential for cybersecurity analysis. It allows teams to identify critical components, assess exposure points, and understand how an attack could propagate through the system.
Another key advantage lies in impact analysis. When a vulnerability is identified, the model makes it possible to quickly evaluate which parts of the system are affected, what requirements are impacted, and which mitigation actions should be prioritized. This significantly improves responsiveness and decision-making.
MBSE also supports traceability. Security requirements can be linked to system elements, risks, and verification activities. This ensures that cybersecurity is consistently addressed throughout the lifecycle, from design to validation.
Finally, MBSE facilitates a shift from reactive to proactive cybersecurity. By integrating security considerations directly into system models, organizations can anticipate risks, test scenarios, and design more resilient systems from the outset.
Conclusion
As cyber threats continue to evolve and extend beyond traditional IT boundaries, organizations must rethink how they approach cybersecurity.
MBSE offers a structured, collaborative, and system-level approach that aligns well with the complexity of modern systems. By enabling a global view, improving communication between stakeholders, and supporting efficient impact analysis, it becomes a key lever to strengthen cybersecurity strategies.
Integrating MBSE into cybersecurity practices is not just an opportunity. It is increasingly becoming a necessity for designing secure and resilient systems.
In an upcoming article, we will explore how Capella, an open-source MBSE solution, can support cybersecurity strategies.
In the meantime, feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss this topic further..