Industry 4.0 Security: IIoT, IoT, OT, SCADA, Purdue Model of Industrial Network Architecture.
Let’s take a quick look into the terminologies involved here:
OT:
Operational technology (OT) is hardware and software that detects or causes a change, through the direct monitoring and/or control of industrial equipment, assets, processes and events.
Industrial Control Systems (ICS): Subset of OT
ICS security is defined as the protection of industrial control systems from threats from cyber attackers. It plays a main role in OT and includes Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA): Subset of ICS
SCADA refers to a system that collects data from various sensors at a factory, plant or in other remote locations and then sends the acquired data to a central computer which then manages and controls the data. A SCADA system will have a master and it will collect information from a SCADA slave, it will also control the SCADA slave. So, it will tell the send instructions to discard the slave to tell it what to do with the real-world physical device.
Field Sensors/Actuators: Network connected to physical devices
They are diverse physical devices that are deployed on or near physical devices and processes. They are sometimes referred to informally as the “Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)”
Key SCADA Components:
- SCADA Master: It is the component in charge of collecting all data from different devices and control the entire process. the scada master is like a server it’s controlled by an operarator and the operator you has in front of him something called the HMI.
- Human-Machine Interface (HMI): It is the component in charge of displaying process data to a human operator. The operator monitors and controls the process through the HMI. It controls the RTUs and PLCs which connect to the Field network or the industrial instruments from where data is collected.
- Remote Terminal Units (RTU): They connect to sensors and convert their signals to digital data and send it to the supervisory system. It is more of a general purpose device
- Programmable Logic Controller (PLC): They are used as field devices because there are more economical, versatile, flexible, and configurable than special-purpose RTUs. They are also programmable.
Purdue Model of Industrial Network Architecture
Level zero here is also known as the field network it’s out in the field out in the real world, connected to the sensors and actuators (physical machinery).
The physical machinery is controlled by Level one, which is also known as the control network.
The field devices are then connected up to a local HMI. Level two is the supervisory level so here you have the SCADA master, the local HMI.
From level 1 upwards it’s all standard ethernet connections and because they are standard ethernet and it’s connected by standard switches it opens itself up to this kind of standard attacks that you may find.
Level three (Ops Admin) is what we would call it in the IT security world like the common shared services or common services so up here you would have the data historian which uses the pi connect these devices down here will send data up to this historian which will log and record like a log server the behavior and even sometimes the project files that determine the behavior of the PLCs here right so that’s the history and using the most commonly the pi connect protocol you’ll also have the windows domain controller the active virus and all other third-party common shared services you will find here to support this network here but the industrial network is up to here levels zero to three.
Traditionally, industrial networks were air gapped so there was no connection up to enterprise admin which is Level four. Enterprise admin represents the traditional IT network having it’s IT devices like Authentication servers, Enterprise Desktops, internal database and file servers.
Level five is the Internet DMZ that consists of the Web Servers and Email Servers.
Industry 4.0: Difference Between Industrial IoT | IoT | OT
IT, OT, IoT, IIoT are special abbreviations that can be all often utilized in mixture with Industry 4.0 and virtual transformation. To begin at the best level, Industry 4.0 refers back to the 4th business revolution in which factories, machines and system get connected, (big) records is generated, analyzed and used to make the manner smart. Digital transformation is using virtual technology to enhance techniques and patron enjoy as a part of the Industry 4.0 movement. IoT or Internet of Things is one of the technology to be had to do so, it refers to connecting “things” to the net to seize the records. When making use of this in a business environment, the time period IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) is used. In IIoT, “things” may be visible as systems that include pumps, valves, additionally, humans, even through wearables.
IT and OT working hand in hand to provide efficient operation in the industry:
IIoT is a tech developed to effortlessly join gadgets and boom datapoints at a relatively low price. Today that is special withinside the IT area and these records may be used to investigate the processes, screen tendencies, or make procedures clever via AI. In many industries, extra records may have a predictive and preventive effect on renovation, protection, and the surroundings which have a right away effect on OT.
According to McKinsey, multiplied throughput and multiplied performance are the biggest possibilities in industries like chemical, petrochemical, and refining. For example, predicting renovation pastime in place of reacting to a problem and stopping injuries and environmental spills reduces downtime and the price associated with those incidents. For example, including sensors to pumps, may be used to screen tendencies like vibration, or sensors on valves may be used to alarm misbehavior like incorrect valve operations.
Now, now that you have got an idea about what IIoT is, what’s more, important for you to know is what’s not IIoT! Let’s have a look:
IoT technologies are delivered to boom IT information and compliment OT, OT systems must now no longer depend totally on IT data. For example, LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) wireless communication technology is so-known as non-deterministic and therefore latency can’t be assured which may be important withinside the OT domain. Since IoT technology is greater value green it can be used to lessen value however that must now no longer be the principal driver. Rather than changing conventional OT, it must be used to complement, enhance and improve OT information via way of means of developing greater datapoints universal at a decreased value.
Hope you find this article informative, in the next one, we will talk about the vulnerabilities and the possible solutions that can be applied in the OT industry. Thanks for reading :”)