Implementing a performant security control for Industrial Ethernet

Abstract

Security is an increased concern in smart manufacturing, however, is often met with concerns from operational technology (OT) operators. Performance is paramount in OT communication and, thus, a higher risk is currently deemed acceptable. However, the probability for cyber attacks is rising as recent, successful attacks on factory communication demonstrate. In this work, we present a performant security protocol extension for usage in OT networks. It enables message authentication and data integrity while keeping the protocol overhead within real-time constraints. The protocol extension protects against attacks targeting communication of cyber-physical systems in a smart manufacturing environment. The availability of OT operations facing these attack vectors is, thus, guaranteed.