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Controls and Control Theory

Air Force Institute of Technology

Theses/Dissertations

2013

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Firmware Counterfeiting And Modification Attacks On Programmable Logic Controllers, Zachary H. Basnight Mar 2013

Firmware Counterfeiting And Modification Attacks On Programmable Logic Controllers, Zachary H. Basnight

Theses and Dissertations

Recent attacks on industrial control systems (ICSs), like the highly publicized Stuxnet malware, have perpetuated a race to the bottom where lower level attacks have a tactical advantage. Programmable logic controller (PLC) firmware, which provides a software-driven interface between system inputs and physically manifested outputs, is readily open to modification at the user level. Current efforts to protect against firmware attacks are hindered by a lack of prerequisite research regarding details of attack development and implementation. In order to obtain a more complete understanding of the threats posed by PLC firmware counterfeiting and the feasibility of such attacks, this research …


Emulation Of Industrial Control Field Device Protocols, Robert M. Jaromin Mar 2013

Emulation Of Industrial Control Field Device Protocols, Robert M. Jaromin

Theses and Dissertations

It has been shown that thousands of industrial control devices are exposed to the Internet, however, the extent and nature of attacks on such devices remains unknown. The first step to understanding security problems that face modern supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and industrial controls networks is to understand the various attacks launched on Internet-connected field devices. This thesis describes the design and implementation of an industrial control emulator on a Gumstix single-board computer as a solution. This emulator acts as a decoy field device, or honeypot, intended to be probed and attacked via an Internet connection. Evaluation techniques …