Secure and Resilient Industrial Control Systems

Industrial control systems (ICSs) are special purpose networked computing systems used to implement control processes and management operations. Their design, which enables realtime operation as well as continuous operation under failures, has made them attractive for the management and control of critical infrastructures, such as power, water supply, and transport infrastructures. Their increasing adoption in infrastructures has led to their exposure to attacks from various actors; such attacks, if successful, can have catastrophic results for infrastructures and cause even loss of life. Thus, their security and resilience are critical. In this paper, we provide a short description of problems and solution approaches for the security of ICSs. Considering their special purpose and their characteristics, we address application-level security demonstrating that a complete solution requires a combination of design methods and technologies including trusted components, secure networks, software security, as well as effective vulnerability analysis.