Extending critical infrastructure element longevity using constellation-based ID verification

Active 2D-DNA Fingerprinting of WirelessHART Adapters to Ensure Operational Integrity in Industrial Systems

“…This includes using real-world virtualization in industrial system frameworks that integrate IoT/IIoT devices, computation, networking, and physical processes [3]. While the inherent efficiencies, cost savings, etc., brought about by hands-off automation, are certainly desirable, benefits are only realized if the supporting devices achieve their full life expectancy [4] and operational cyber security risks are mitigated. These risks include an increase in the number of wireless doorways for entering the operational attack surface that has expanded with the adoption and networked integration of IoT/IIoT devices [5].…”

“…That is, the fingerprint features are extracted from collected emissions of a component, subassembly, or device that is actively operating and performing its intended function. As evident in [6], passive fingerprinting methods are the most prolific and most appropriate for post-deployment protection within the field operation phase of a device's technical lifespan [4].…”

“…The focus here is on active fingerprinting which is much less prolific and uses features extracted from stimulated responses of non-operating components, subassemblies, or devices. Active fingerprinting is most appropriate for pre-deployment protection (e.g., counterfeit detection) within the near-cradle phase of a device's technical lifespan [4]. Among the numerous RFF citations in [6] are the earliest RF fingerprinting works [7][8][9][10] that formed the basis for a decade of subsequent activity involving passive DNA fingerprinting of wireless communication devices [4,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…Active fingerprinting is most appropriate for pre-deployment protection (e.g., counterfeit detection) within the near-cradle phase of a device's technical lifespan [4]. Among the numerous RFF citations in [6] are the earliest RF fingerprinting works [7][8][9][10] that formed the basis for a decade of subsequent activity involving passive DNA fingerprinting of wireless communication devices [4,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. More recently, there has been a transition to active DNA fingerprinting [18][19][20][21] with work in [19] representing the first application of active DNA fingerprinting to wireless communication devices.…”

“…The extent of compromised device effects ranges from degraded functionality (slow, sluggish, inefficient operation) to premature failure (lifecycle termination)-both manifesting possible catastrophic results. The potential for this occurring can be minimized by employing near-cradle [4] pre-deployment protection measures to detect devices that have been intentionally modified or counterfeited before placing them into service. Near-cradle counterfeit protection is at one lifecycle extreme and includes two fundamentally different Radio Frequency (RF) methods: (1) active RF Identification (RFID) that exploits interrogated responses of onboard functionality that is intentionally embedded at the time of manufacture [23,24], and (2) active RF-DNA fingerprinting that exploits inherent response uniqueness resulting from component, device architecture, and manufacturing process differences [18][19][20][21].…”