TECH FRONT THE LATEST RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT NEWS IN MANUFACTURING AND TECHNOLOGY t Securing Industrial Controls from Cyber Threats A
team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) have developed a new type of ransomware that was able to take over control of a
simulated water treatment plant in a recently conducted test. After gaining access, the researchers were able to com-
mand programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to shut valves, increase the amount of chlorine added to water, and display false readings. The simulated attack, designed to highlight vulnerabilities in the control systems used to operate industrial facilities including manufacturing plants, water and wastewa- ter treatment facilities and building management systems for controlling escalators, elevators and HVAC systems, is believed to be the fi rst to demonstrate ransomware compromise of real PLCs, accord- ing to the Georgia Tech team. The research was presented Feb. 13 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. While no real ransomware at- tacks have been publicly reported on the process control compo- nents of industrial control sys- tems, the attacks have become a signifi cant problem for patient data in hospitals and customer data in businesses. Attackers can gain access to these systems and encrypt the data, demanding a ransom to provide the encryption key that allows the data to be used again. The researchers noted that ransomware generated an estimated $200 million for attackers during the fi rst quarter of 2016, and the researchers believe it’s only a matter of time before critical industrial systems are compromised and held for ransom. “We are expecting ransomware to go one step farther, be- yond the customer data to compromise the control systems themselves,” said David Formby, a doctoral student in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“That could allow attackers to hold hostage critical systems such as water treatment plants and manufacturing facilities. Compromising the PLCs in these systems is a next logical step for these attackers.” Many industrial control systems lack strong security
protocols, noted Raheem Beyah, the Motorola Foundation Professor and associate chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Formby’s faculty advisor. That’s likely because these systems haven’t been targeted by ran- somware so far, and because their vulnerabilities may not be well-understood by their operators.
Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new form of ransomware that can take over control of a simulated water treatment plant. The simulated attack was designed to highlight vulnerabilities in the control systems used to operate industrial facilities. Shown are (left) Raheem Beyah, associate chair in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and David Formby, a Georgia Tech doctoral student.
In their research, Formby and Beyah used a special-
ized search program to locate 1400 PLCs of a single type that were directly accessible across the Internet. Most such devices are located behind business systems that provide some level of protection—until they are compromised. Once attackers get into a business system, they could pivot to enter control systems if they are not properly walled off. “Many control systems assume that once you have access to the network, that you are authorized to make
April 2017 |
AdvancedManufacturing.org 31
Photo courtesy Christopher Moore, Georgia Tech
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