Blockchain-based automation architecture cybersecurity

A system for recording states of software or firmware in a process control system and connected instrumentation using a distributed ledger maintained by a plurality of participants comprising:

• one or more devices disposed in a process plant each performing a physical function to control an industrial process, wherein the process plant contains, transforms, generates, or transfers physical materials;
• and
• a computing device executing in the process plant including:
• one or more processors;
• a communication unit;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors and the communication unit and storing instructions thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to:
• obtain a current state of software or firmware executing within the process plant, the software or firmware executing within at least one of the one or more devices disposed in the process plant or a network device within the process plant;
• generate a transaction including a cryptographic hash value corresponding to the current state of the software or firmware executing within the process plant, wherein the transaction is stored in the distributed ledger;
• and
• transmit the transaction to at least one other participant in a distributed ledger network of participants maintaining the distributed ledger for validating and recording the transaction in the distributed ledger;
• and
• a server device including:
• one or more processors:
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the server device to:
• obtain, from the network device or the one or more devices executing the software or firmware, a state of the software or firmware executing within the process plant;
• and
• compare the state of the software or firmware executing within the process plant to the cryptographic hash value from the distributed ledger to verify the software or firmware has not been tampered with.

A validating network node in a process plant on a distributed ledger network comprising:

• a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more field devices each performing a physical function to control an industrial process in the process plant and to exchange distributed ledger data with peer network nodes, the distributed ledger data including transactions having data indicative of cryptographic hash values corresponding to current states of software or firmware executing within the process plant, wherein the process plant contains, transforms, generates, or transfers physical materials;
• a storage media configured to store a copy of the distributed ledger;
• and
• a process data validator configured to apply a set of consensus rules to the distributed ledger data received from the peer network nodes, the process data validator being further configured to append the distributed ledger data received from the peer network nodes to the copy of the distributed ledger if the distributed ledger data satisfies the consensus rules;
• wherein a state of the software or firmware executing within the process plant is obtained and compared to the cryptographic hash value from the distributed ledger to verify the software or firmware has not been tampered with.