Assessing and Exploiting Control Systems

This is not your traditional SCADA/ICS/IoT security course! How many courses send you home with your own PLC and a set of hardware/RF hacking tools?!? This course teaches hands-on penetration testing techniques used to test individual components of a control system, including embedded electronic field devices, network protocols, RF communications, Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), and various forms of master servers and their ICS applications. Skills you will learn in this course will apply directly to systems such as the Smart Grid, PLCs, RTUs, smart meters, building management, manufacturing, Home Area Networks (HAN), smart appliances, SCADA, substation automation, and synchrophasors. This course is structured around the formal penetration testing methodology created by UtiliSec for the United States Department of Energy. Using this methodology and Control Things Pentest Platform (previously SamuraiSTFU), an open source Linux distribution for pentesting energy sector systems and other critical infrastructure, we will perform hands-on penetration testing tasks on user interfaces (on master servers and field device maintenance interfaces), control system protocols (modbus, DNP3, IEC 60870-5-104), RF communications (433MHz, 869MHz, 915MHz), and embedded circuit attacks (memory dumping, bus snooping, JTAG, and firmware analysis). We will tie these techniques and exercises back to control system devices that can be tested using these techniques. The course exercises will be performed on a mixture of real world and simulated devices to give students the most realistic experience as possible in a portable classroom setting.

Advances in modern control systems such as the energy sector's Smart Grid has brought great benefits for asset owners/operators and customers alike, however these benefits have often come at a cost from a security perspective. With increased functionality and addition inter-system communication, modern control systems bring a greater risk of compromise that vendors, asset owners/operators, and society in general must accept to realize the desired benefits. To minimize this risk, penetration testing in conjunction with other security assessment types must be performed to minimize vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit critical infrastructures that exist in all countries around the world. Ultimately, this is the goal of this course, to help you know how, when, and where this can be done safely in your control systems.

Basic penetration testing experience is desirable, but not required. It is assumed that attendees will have no knowledge of control systems, Smart Grid, SCADA, or critical infrastructure. This course is designed for intermediate level security professionals, be they engineers, technicians, analysts, managers, or penetration testers.

For those with little or no ICS experience, these Wikipedia articles provide a brief introduction to the concepts and history of control systems that will be helpful to know for class.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICS
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_control_system
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid
  
• http://nostarch.com/xboxfree (Note: While this has nothing to do with control systems, it provides a great introduction to the concepts and techniques taught in this class to pen test embedded electronic hardware in ICS field/floor devices.)
  
• http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistir/ir7628/nistir-7628_vol3.pdf (Chapter 7 of the NIST Interagency Report 7628, titled Bottom-up Security Analysis of the Smart Grid, provides a great overview of the challenges faced in Smart Grid and energy sector systems, many of which we are testing for and exploiting in this class.)