The industrial internet of things (IIoT): An analysis framework

TLDR

Industrial Automation and Control Systems were traditionally isolated and protected by zoned architectures, but the rise of IoT is driving greater connectivity and architectural change. This paper reviews the meaning of Industrial IoT, its relation to cyber‑physical systems and Industry 4.0, and proposes a definition and taxonomy analysis. An analysis framework is presented to enumerate and characterize IIoT devices for system architecture studies and security threat assessment. The study concludes by highlighting gaps in the existing literature.

Abstract

Historically, Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS) were largely isolated from conventional digital networks such as enterprise ICT environments. Where connectivity was required, a zoned architecture was adopted, with firewalls and/or demilitarized zones used to protect the core control system components. The adoption and deployment of ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) technologies is leading to architectural changes to IACS, including greater connectivity to industrial systems. This paper reviews what is meant by Industrial IoT (IIoT) and relationships to concepts such as cyber-physical systems and Industry 4.0. The paper develops a definition of IIoT and analyses related partial IoT taxonomies. It develops an analysis framework for IIoT that can be used to enumerate and characterise IIoT devices when studying system architectures and analysing security threats and vulnerabilities. The paper concludes by identifying some gaps in the literature.