Apparatus and methods for authenticating cyber secure control system configurations using distributed ledgers

A method for securely controlling a braided ring network having a plurality of dependent control nodes and a plurality of master control nodes, each of the plurality of dependent control nodes associated with a respective distributed I/O node, the distributed I/O nodes interfacing with at least one peripheral device, the method comprising:

• at each of the plurality of dependent control nodes:
• maintaining a unit level distributed ledger, wherein the unit level distributed ledger comprises information from distributed I/O nodes associated with the respective control nodes;
• and
• transmitting a portion of the unit level distributed ledger to a respective one of the plurality of master control nodes;
• at each of the plurality of master control nodes:
• maintaining, a system level distributed ledger, wherein the system level distributed ledger comprises information from the unit level distributed ledger of the control nodes associated with the respective master control node;
• and
• transmitting the portion of the system level distributed ledger to a central processor;
• and
• at the central processor:
• maintaining a separate central distributed ledger for each of the system level distributed ledgers received from the master control nodes.