Control system security has become a serious concern in recent years due to the proliferation of cyber attacks targeting critically important infrastructure like public utilities: electric power, gas and water. As control systems increasingly rely on operating systems and standard protocols that are both open and versatile, cyber attacks are very common now with various infection routes not only via the Internet but also via USB memory devices and other media, making it difficult to prevent all malware infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a technology that can quickly detect security incidents. Such technology should not have an impact on control system availability (stable, continuous operation) as these systems need to keep operating without interruption for very long periods, even as long as several decades.
A host in control room A has become infected with malware and there has been an increase in network traffic.
Yokogawa’s achievement
The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan (NICT), Yokogawa, and Kyoto University jointly developed a technology for visualising and analysing control system traffic to verify its integrity and quickly detect security incidents such as malware infections.
Unlike general information systems where the amount and direction of traffic keep changing, it is easier with control system networks to identify when traffic conditions are normal as these systems are designed and used for a specific purpose. The development focused on this characteristic.
The technology saves data on normal control system traffic conditions as a white list. With reference to this list, it then monitors the dynamic state of the control system network to detect any abnormalities such as an increase in traffic or communication with an unknown IP address that could be caused by malware.
Furthermore, by using Nirvana, a real-time traffic visualisation system developed by NICT, the technology was improved to comply with unique communications protocols used by control systems. As a result, it can identify traffic conditions much easier when an abnormality is identified.
Since there is no need to install detection software on each control system host (or server), this technology is easy to introduce and does not impact control system availability.
This technology has been integrated in Yokogawa’s cyber security support service for control systems, and is expected to make the systems used in critically important infrastructure more secure.
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