An Experimental Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in Industrial IoT Devices

Abstract

The revolutionary development of the Internet of Things has triggered a huge demand for Internet of Things devices. They are extensively applied to various fields of social activities, and concerning manufacturing, they are a key enabling concept for the Industry 4.0 ecosystem. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices share common vulnerabilities with standard IoT devices, which are increasingly exposed to the attackers. As such, connected industrial devices may become sources of cyber, as well as physical, threats for people and assets in industrial environments. In this work, we examine the attack surfaces of a networked embedded system, composed of devices representative of those typically used in the IIoT field. We carry on an analysis of the current state of the security of IIoT technologies. The analysis guides the identification of a set of attack vectors for the examined networked embedded system. We set up the corresponding concrete attack scenarios to gain control of the system actuators and perform some hazardous operations. In particular, we propose a couple of variations of Mirai attack specifically tailored for attacking industrial environments. Finally, we discuss some possible