Björn Leander, Industrial Doctoral Student


Björn Leander graduated as a M.Sc in Computer Science and Control Theory, from Luleå University of Technology in 2002. After several years working in different fields of software development, he was employed at ABB Process Control Platform in 2013, where he now is a cybersecurity engineer. In 2020 Björn received a tech.licentiate degree from MDU.

Industrial control systems are undergoing a transformation driven by business requirements as well as technical advances, aiming towards increased connectivity, flexibility, and high level of modularity. That implies a need to revise existing cybersecurity measures. The overarching goal for this research project is to investigate and provide secure and robust solutions supporting these emergent system characteristics.

The focus area of the project is on access control, which is one of the major security mechanisms in any system, and that is largely affected by these advances. One of the major challenges targeted by the project is how to handle the inherently dynamic properties of the future industrial control systems, which ideally should be mirrored by similar flexibility in the access control policy rules as well as enforcement architectures. This project is carried out in collaboration between ABB PA/PCP and MDU.