Introduction:
The proliferation of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), including Internet of Things (IoT), is changing our lives. Smart cyber-physical devices can be used in many different fields, ranging from simple small scale systems (e.g., home automation) to large scale safety-critical environments (e.g., wireless sensor networks, military systems, drone-based surveillance systems, factory automation or smart metering systems). According to statista.com, by 2020 the installed base of IoT devices is forecast to grow to almost 31 billion worldwide, and 75 billion of IoT devices are expected to be used in 2025. CPS is usually featured by Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, where devices directly interact with each other using any available communication channel. This permits to connect small devices in Cyber Physical Systems, i.e., interconnected groups having decision-making capabilities and autonomous control, and enabling to autonomously perform critical operations. We particularly use M2M-CPS to emphasize the M2M feature of CPS thereafter. As we move towards an era of “automation”, the group devices certainly make their existence as a panacea to address several issues in the smart world.

Although this new era of smart devices promises a lot to the mankind, their role in critical systems, their low-cost nature, and their wide usage, make CPSs an attractive target for cyber attackers. In fact, these devices are usually resource constrained and unable to defend themselves against security threats. Even a single compromised node in a group of cooperating devices can pose a serious security threat, e.g., by either disrupting communications (and thus the coordination) within the group, or sharing critical information to unauthorized external parties. Attackers can use devices as a vector to other targets, as in the case of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks1, interfere with normal functionality of the network in order to force an abnormal behaviour, or simply infere private information through compromised devices. Moreover, a CPS often collects and processes privacy-sensitive information, which may result in privacy leaks. This risk has gained recent attention from governments and regulatory bodies, which introduced stricter legal requirements, e.g., those imposed by the European GDPR. As such, security and privacy are a major concern, to guarantee both the correct operational capabilities of devices and prevent data thefts and/or privacy violations. Protection of intra and inter device communications is hence vital to guarantee dependability, security and privacy of the CPS and its users. For example, in the case of vehicular ad-hoc network, security vulnerabilities pose serious risks for driver, passengers and other people. This calls for novel security & privacy solutions and protocols, which also take in account the limited computational and communication capabilities/resources of devices composing the CPS.

This special issue focuses on security & privacy aspects of emerging trends and applications involving Machine-to-Machine Cyber Physical Systems (M2M CPSs) in both generic and specific domain of interests, such as, but not limited to, Safety-Critical Infrastructures, Autonomous Systems, Smart Cities, Intelligent Vehicles, Smart-Health, etc. We invite original research articles proposing innovative solutions to improve IoT security and privacy, taking in account the low resource characteristics of CPS components, the distributed nature of CPSs, and connectivity constraints of IoT devices.

Aims and Scopes:
Special topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Machine learning-enabled security solutions for M2M CPS
• Blockchain-based privacy and security solutions for M2M CPS
• Trusted and verifiable computation in CPS devices
• Attestation of IoT devices and IoT swarms
• M2M CPS digital forensic
• Privacy preserving and Secure Multiparty Computation applications for M2M CPS
• Lightweight secure protocol for CPS

Submission Detail:
Authors should submit their journal version at Manuscript Central adhering to the formatting instructions on the TCPS Web page and indicate that you are submitting to the Special Issue on “Security and Privacy for Internet of Things Systems” on the first page and in the field “Author's Cover Letter”. For more information, please contact the Guest Editors.

Important Dates
Manuscript due date: June 30, 2019
First decision notification: August 15, 2019
Revised manuscript due date: September 15, 2019
Final decision notification: October 31, 2019
Camera ready due date: November 31, 2019
Tentative publication schedule: 2020

Guest Editors
Dr. Moreno Ambrosin, Intel Labs, Hillsboro, OR, USA, moreno.ambrosin@intel.com
Prof. Mauro Conti, Department of Mathematics, University of Padua, Italy, conti@math.unipd.it
Dr. Riccardo Lazzeretti, Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering “Antonio Ruberti”, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, lazzeretti@diag.uniroma1.it
Prof. Chia-Mu Yu, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, chiamuyu@nchu.edu.tw