System and method for assessing an impact of software on industrial automation and control systems

A system for assessing an impact of software on components of industrial automation and control systems, comprising:

• at least one processor of a computing device configured to:
• select samples of software to be analyzed for potential capability to cause harm to an industrial automation and control system (IACS), wherein the selection of the samples of the software is performed by:
• launching and executing each sample of the software in an isolated environment of a sandbox;
• generating an event log during the executions in the sandbox, wherein the generated event log contains all activities occurring during the execution;
• and
• selecting one or more samples of the software to be investigated for the testing on the testing device based on an analysis of the generated event log;
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, perform analysis to identify effects of the selected samples of the software on the particular configuration of the IACS, wherein the identified effects include at least causes and events resulting in a disruption of operations of the particular configuration of the IACS, the particular configuration including at least the components of the industrial system being simulated on a testing device, wherein the testing includes monitoring requests and responses among components of the particular configuration;
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, analyze all identified causes and events resulting in the disruption of the operations of the particular configuration of the IACS;
• and
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, based on the analysis, assess the impact of the selected sample of the software by determining a degree of influence of the software on the particular configuration of the IACS.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing thereon computer executable instructions for assessing an impact of software on components of industrial automation and control systems, including instructions for:

• selecting samples of software to be analyzed for potential capability to cause harm to an industrial automation and control system (IACS), wherein the selection of the samples of the software is performed by:
• launching and executing each sample of the software in an isolated environment of a sandbox;
• generating an event log during the executions in the sandbox, wherein the generated event log contains all activities occurring during the execution;
• and
• selecting one or more samples of the software to be investigated for the testing on the testing device based on an analysis of the generated event log;
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, performing analysis to identify effects of the selected samples of the software on the particular configuration of the IACS, wherein the identified effects include at least causes and events resulting in a disruption of operations of the particular configuration of the IACS, the particular configuration including at least the components of the industrial system being simulated on a testing device, wherein the testing includes monitoring requests and responses among components of the particular configuration;
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, analyzing all identified causes and events resulting in the disruption of the operations of the particular configuration of the IACS;
• and
• for each particular configuration of the IACS being tested, based on the analysis, assessing the impact of the selected sample of the software by determining a degree of influence of the software on the particular configuration of the IACS.