Cyber-Security-Aware Network Design of Industrial Control Systems

The pervasive adoption of traditional information and communication technologies hardware and software in industrial control systems (ICS) has given birth to a unique technological ecosystem encapsulating a variety of objects ranging from sensors and actuators to video surveillance cameras and generic PCs. Despite their invaluable advantages, these advanced ICS create new design challenges, which expose them to significant cyber threats. To address these challenges, an innovative ICS network design technique is proposed in this paper to harmonize the traditional ICS design requirements pertaining to strong architectural determinism and real-time data transfer with security recommendations outlined in the ISA-62443.03.02 standard. The proposed technique accommodates security requirements by partitioning the network into security zones and by provisioning critical communication channels, known as security conduits, between two or more security zones. The ICS network design is formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem that minimizes the cost of the installation. Real-time data transfer limitations and security requirements are included as constraints imposing the selection of specific traffic paths, the selection of routing nodes, and the provisioning of security zones and conduits. The security requirements of cyber assets denoted by traffic and communication endpoints are determined by a cyber attack impact assessment technique proposed in this paper. The sensitivity of the proposed techniques to different parameters is evaluated in a first scenario involving the IEEE 14-bus model and in a second scenario involving a large network topology based on generated data. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of the ILP model.

I. Introduction

The massive proliferation of traditional information and communication technologies (ICT) hardware and software into the heart of industrial control systems (ICS) has given birth to a unique technological ecosystem. Modern ICS encompass a variety of objects ranging from sensors and actuators, industrial radio-frequency identification (RFID), e.g., product tracking devices, video surveillance cameras to generic PCs, networking and security devices such as industrial Ethernet, firewall, and intrusion detection systems. These advanced ICS deliver various services and features; they improve operational benefits of control, reliability, and safety and facilitate the implementation of novel infrastructural paradigms such as smart grid.