cs.CROct 20, 2026

A Digital Twin to Improve Cyber-Social Impact

Authors: Vita Santa Barletta, Danilo Caivano, Gabriel Cellammare, Andrea Dimauro, Pasquale Mesagna, Massimiliano Morga

Organizations: University of Bari Aldo Moro · IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca · Sapienza University of Rome · SER&Practices

Abstract

The increasing complexity of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and their integration with IT infrastructures has significantly expanded the cyber threat landscape. Traditional cybersecurity models, primarily based on the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA triad), fail to capture the broader societal and operational impacts of cyberattacks. This paper proposes a novel framework that integrates Digital Twin technology with a Cyber-Social Security model to simulate, analyze, and quantify cyber threats in critical infrastructures. Virtualized ICS environments built with Mininet and MiniCPS are used to model attack scenarios and assess their consequences across technical and social dimensions. At the core of the framework lies the Cyber-Social Vulnerability Scoring System (CSVSS), a quantitative metric that extends CVSS with a Social Impact dimension grounded in the Entity and Place pillars, producing a single, reproducible severity score that reflects real-world consequences. Crucially, the framework does not automate risk assessment but keeps the human analyst at its center: a Large Language Model (LLM) performs a first-pass analysis, mapping vulnerabilities and drafting risk reports, while the analyst, supported by explainable AI feedback, validates the findings and retains decision authority over critical cases. Experimental results demonstrate the framework's ability to model and score cyber-social impact, while the human-in-the-loop design is presented as a conceptual principle to preserve oversight.

Figures & tables

Explore similar work

CardsList
  1. Cyber-Resilient Digital Twins: Discriminating Attacks for Safe Critical Infrastructure Control

    Mar 19, 2026Mohammadhossein Homaei, Iman Khazrak, Rubén Molano +2CPS SecurityIndustrial Control System Security

  2. From Incomplete Architecture to Quantified Risk: Multimodal LLM-Driven Security Assessment for Cyber-Physical Systems

    Apr 7, 2026Shaofei Huang, Christopher M. Poskitt, Lwin Khin SharCybersecurityCPS Security

  3. Explainable AI-Driven Cyber Risk Analytics and Model Reliability Assessment for Intelligent Governance of U.S. Critical Infrastructure: An XGBoost and SHAP-Based Intrusion Detection Framework

    Jun 4, 2026B. M. Taslimul Haque, Md. Arifur Rahman, Md. Serajul Kabir Chowdhury Rubel +1Network Intrusion DetectionCybersecurity