Hacking and Securing the Industrial Internet of Things

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also referred to as Industry 4.0, has brought many advancements to production and efficiency. More than ever before, industrial devices are interconnected over networks to expedite communication, data transfer, and the industrial process. However, with these technological advancements, the security of these systems has been greatly neglected. Industrial devices such as sensors and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are considerably aged, making it difficult to implement security features onto them. Now that these devices are even more accessible over a network, measures must be taken to secure them.

The goal of this research is to demonstrate an example of an attack on an Allen-Bradley micro850 PLC that will bring attention to the lack of security on these devices. By connecting to the PLC over ethernet ports, this study uses the software Connected Components Workbench by Rockwell Automation to download malicious code onto the device or even delete the code currently running. It also opens routes for an attacker to move laterally through the IIoT. This can result in downtime and/or damage to industrial devices, which are both extremely costly. Several methods of security are proposed to mitigate said attacks, including encryption methods, edge computing, and appropriate access control practices.