A model of distributed key generation for industrial control systems

Abstract

The cyber-security of industrial control systems (ICS) is gaining high relevance due to the impact of industrial system failures on the citizen life. There is an urgent need for the consideration of security in their design, and for the analysis of the related vulnerabilities and potential threats. The high exposure of industrial critical infrastructure to cyber-threats is mainly due to the intrinsic weakness of the communication protocols used to control the process network. The peculiarities of the industrial protocols (low computational power, large geographical distribution, near to real-time constraints) make hard the effective use of traditional cryptographic schemes and in particular the implementation of an effective key management infrastructure supporting a cryptographic layer. In this paper, we describe a "model of distributed key generation for industrial control systems" we have recently implemented. The model is based on a known Distributed Key Generator protocol we have adapted to an industrial control system environment and to the related communication protocol (Modbus). To validate in a formal way selected security properties of the model, we introduced a Petri Nets representation. This representation allows for modeling attacks against the protocol and understanding some potential weaknesses of its implementation in the industrial control system environment.

Modeling Distributed Private Key Generation by Composing Petri Nets

“…After receiving k pieces from k available PKG nodes, client constructs its private key. The client can verify the key by using bilinear pairings as it is stated in [6] and [7].…”

“…The id-based distributed private key generation protocol was proposed in [5]; an improved version is presented in [6]. In [7], a Petri net model for the protocol to be implemented on industrial control systems is presented.…”

The Dynamic Symmetric Four-Key-Generators System for Securing Data Transmission in the Industrial Control System

“…This issue can be overcome by encrypting data transmissions with complex key generators. In cryptography, Kilinc [8] showed communication protocols' intrinsic shortcomings in controlling network processes. They introduced a distributed key generation model for ICS as a representation of Petri nets.…”