Biblio

Until recently, IT security received limited attention within the scope of Process Control Systems (PCS). In the past, PCS consisted of isolated, specialized components running closed process control applications, where hardware was placed in physically secured locations and connections to remote network infrastructures were forbidden. Nowadays, industrial communications are fully exploiting the plethora of features and novel capabilities deriving from the adoption of commodity off the shelf (COTS) hardware and software. Nonetheless, the reliance on COTS for remote monitoring, configuration and maintenance also exposed PCS to significant cyber threats. In light of these issues, this paper presents the steps for the design, verification and implementation of a lightweight remote attestation protocol. The protocol is aimed at providing a secure software integrity verification scheme that can be readily integrated into existing industrial applications. The main novelty of the designed protocol is that it encapsulates key elements for the protection of both participating parties (i.e., verifier and prover) against cyber attacks. The protocol is formally verified for correctness with the help of the Scyther model checking tool. The protocol implementation and experimental results are provided for a Phoenix-Contact industrial controller, which is widely used in the automation of gas transportation networks in Romania.

Internet of Things (IoT) and its various application domains are radically changing the lives of people, providing smart services which will ultimately constitute integral components of the living environment. The services of IoT operate based on the data flows collected from the different sensors and actuators. In this respect, the correctness and security of the sensor data transported over the IoT system is a crucial factor in ensuring the correct functioning of the IoT services. In this work, we present a method that can detect abnormal sensor events based on “apriori” knowledge of the behavior of the monitored process. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is that it builds on well-established theoretical works, while delivering a practical technique with low computational requirements. As a result, the developed technique can be hosted on various components of an IoT system. The developed approach is evaluated through real-world use-cases.