Comparative Study of the Common Cyber-physical Attacks in Industry 4.0

Abstract

The open structure, different technical possibilities and anonymity represent the main reasons why the internet is misused as a platform for attack. This is also reflected in the creation of today's cyber-attacks. Following early 1960, industrial process control has been applied by electric systems. In the mid-1970s, the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) emerged, describing the automated control and data acquisition. Considering most industrial and automation networks were physically isolated, security was not an issue. This modified when in the early 2000s industrial networks were opened to the public internet. The reasons were manifold. Increased interconnectivity led to more productivity, simplicity, and ease of use. It decreased the configuration overhead and downtimes for system adjustments. However, it also led to an abundance of new attack vectors. For victorious cyberattacks are increasingly necessary in many cases, no more than a PC and an internet connection to strike a critical infrastructure like SCADA system. As for any trend, many cyber-physical attacks are targeting manufactories involving Industry 4.0 systems, like Maroochy Water Services in Australia, German Steel Mill Thyssenkrupp and Norsk Hydro Aluminum in 2000, 2014 and 2019, respectively. This paper describes these three cyberattacks in Industry 4.0, their different vulnerabilities, and proposes security measures to address the identified vulnerabilities.