Automatic Tampering Detection in Networked Control Systems
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorBalaje T. Thumati
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A configuration manager is associated with a Networked Control System (NCS) comprising a plurality of sensors and actuators. The configuration manager automatically discovers the hardware and/or software configurations of the sensors and actuators, and analyzes that information in order to detect whether any of the sensors and actuators have been tampered with. Provided the configuration manager detects such tampering, the configuration manager indicates the tampering to a control manager of the NCS, which then functions to minimize potential damage to the NCS.
Claims20
A configuration management device in an automated system comprising a plurality of network components and a control manager that manages the plurality of network components, the configuration management device comprising:
- a communications interface configured to communicate with the plurality of network components and with the control manager;
- and
- processing circuitry operatively connected to the communications interface and configured to:
- detect a discrepancy in configuration data received from a network component based on a comparison of the configuration data with reference configuration data stored in a database;
- and
- responsive to detecting the discrepancy, send a tamper detection signal to the control manager indicating that the network component has been tampered with.
A method of controlling an automated system comprising a plurality of network components and a control manager that manages the plurality of network components, the method comprising:
- detecting a discrepancy in configuration data received from a network component based on a comparison of the configuration data with reference configuration data stored in a database;
- and
- responsive to detecting the discrepancy, indicating that the network component has been tampered with to the control manager.
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program product configured to control a programmable computing device, the computer program product comprising software instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of the programmable computing device, cause the processing circuitry to:
- detect a discrepancy in configuration data received from a network component based on a comparison of the configuration data with reference configuration data stored in a database;
- and
- responsive to detecting the discrepancy, send a tamper detection signal to the control manager indicating that the network component has been tampered with.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.