Security of the data transmission in the industrial control system

Abstract

The theme of this paper is to present the data transmission security system between the stations of the industrial control system. The possible options for secure communications between process stations, as well as between process and operator station are described. Transmission security mechanism is based on algorithms for symmetric and asymmetric encryption. The authentication process uses a software token algorithm and a one-way hash function. The algorithm for establishing a secured connection between the stations, including the authentication process and encryption of data transmission is given. The process of securing the transmission consists of 4 sub-processes: (I) authentication; (II) asymmetric, public keys transmission; (III) symmetric key transmission; (IV) data transmission. The presented process of securing the transmission was realized in the industrial controller and emulator. For this purpose, programming languages in accordance with EN 61131 were used. The functions were implemented as user function blocks. This allows us to include a mixed code in the structure of the block (both: ST and FBD). Available function categories: support of the asymmetric encryption; asymmetric encryption utility functions; support of the symmetric encryption; symmetric encryption utility functions; support of the hash value calculations; utility functions of conversion.[b]Keywords[/b]: transmission security, encryption, authentication, industrial control system

Keywords

• transmission security
• encryption
• authentication
• industrial control system