Cybersecurityin Autonomous Systems: Threats, ‎Vulnerabilities, and Defense Mechanisms

There is the rapid evolution of autonomous systems, including autonomous vehicles, drones, and smart infrastructure, that has revolutionized industries through enhanced efficiency, precision, and scalability. It has, however, been accompanied by significant cybersecurity risks. Autonomous systems are susceptible to all types of cyber-attacks because of their connectivity to networks, including data tampering, sensor spoofing, denial-of-service attacks, and unauthorized access to control systems. These vulnerabilities stem from the integration of complex software architectures, communications networks, and sensor suites that offer a number of attack surfaces to malicious agents. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the primary cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities in autonomous systems, with an emphasis on their ability to affect safety, privacy, and operational integrity. Moreover, it analyzes state-of-the-art protection methods, including intrusion detection systems, encryption protocols, anomaly-based monitoring, and machine learning-based threat prevention methods. By presenting real case studies and current research advances, this study advocates for the urgent need for secure, adaptive, and multi-level security architectures for safeguarding autonomous systems against new and rising cyber threats. The findings stress the importance of coordination among cybersecurity researchers, system engineers, and policy makers to ensure the secure and dependable introduction of autonomous technologies into mission-critical applications.

Keywords:

Autonomous systems , ‎Cybersecurity , Threats , ‎Vulnerabilities , Defense Mechanisms , ‎Intrusion detection.‎