Improvement of Physical Security through Continuous Authentication for SCADA and DCS Systems in Industrial Automation and Control Systems

Abstract:

As the treat landscape in Operational Technology (OT) cyber security is getting more complicated, there is a general demand in most industries to increase the Target Security Level (SL-T) of Industry Automation and Control Systems (IACS). More sophisticated treat actors with higher motivation are on stage, and treat actors are getting increasingly familiar with IACS. Yet some security controls, widely used in Information Technology, are often hard to implement in IACS. Inability to go away from obsolete Operational System (OS), using shared accounts for operators, limited applicability of security patching, limited applicability of multifactor authentication, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) are specific challenges of IACS security, caused mainly by real time operation and safety requirements. One way to reach SL-T is introducing compensating controls. For instance, if the use of an obsolete, unpatched SCADA system is unavoidable, security monitoring or physical security can be increased to compensate the lack of direct control. This paper aims to elaborate the compensating effect of continuous authentication as a mean of Identification and Authentication (I&A) for the operating room workstations of obsolete SCADA and DCS systems.

• Periodical: Advances in Science and Technology (Volume 165)
• Pages: 123-128
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-NL1llK
• Online since: June 2025
• Authors: Istvan Denes, Sándor Semperger*
• Keywords: Compensating Control, Continuous Authentication, Control System, Cyber Security, Industrial Automation, Obsolescence, SCADA

References

[1] Critical Asset Protection, Perimeter Monitoring, and Threat Detection Using Automated Video Surveillance Dr Alan J. Lipton, Craig H. Heartwell, Dr Niels Haering, and Donald Madden

DOI: 10.1109/ccst.2002.1049231

[2] ISA/ ANSI-62443-3-3-2013, Security for industrial automation and control systems, Edition 1.0 2020-06 Part 3-3 System Security Requirements and Security Levels

[3] Strong industrial security with the IEC 62443 standard. EETIMES Strong industrial security with the IEC 62443 standard - EE Times

DOI: 10.3403/30495399

[4] Biometrics for Industry 4.0 Cascone Lucia, Gao Zhiwei, Nappi Michele, Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, https://link.springer.com/article/

DOI: 10.1007/s12652-023-04632-7

[5] Access Control in Critical Infrastructure Control Rooms using Continuous Authentication and Face Recognition, Kristian Dragerengen, Norvegian University of Science and Technology, https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnuxmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2502564/20001_FULLTEXT.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

[6] Ambient access control for smart spaces: dynamic guidance and zone configuration, Seán Óg Murphy, Liam O'Toole , Luis Quesada , Kenneth N. Brown a, Cormac J. Sreenan, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921006736

DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2021.03.042

[7] Security, Privacy, and Usability in Continuous Authentication: A Survey, Ahmed Fraz Baig, Dr. Sigurd Eskeland, https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/17/5967

DOI: 10.3390/s21175967

[8] Access Control in Critical Infrastructure Control Rooms using Continuous Authentication and Face Recognition, Christian Dragerengen, https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/handle/11250/2502564

[9] A hypo-optimum feature selection strategy for mouse dynamics in continuous identity authentication and monitoring. Chao Shen; Zhongmin Cai; Xiaohong Guan; Jinpei Cai et al

DOI: 10.1109/icitis.2010.5689603

[10] Continuous User Verification via Mouse Activities, Khandaker Abir Rahman,  Ryan Moormann, Danielle Dierich et al, https://link.springer.com/chapter/

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-26404-2_14

[11] Feature Analysis of Mouse Dynamics in Identity Authentication and Monitoring, C. Shen; Z. Cai; X. Guan; H. Sha; J. Du, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5199032

DOI: 10.1109/icc.2009.5199032

[12] User authentication method based on keystroke dynamics and mouse dynamics using HDA , Yutong Shi, Xiujuan Wang, Kangfeng Zheng, Siwei Cao, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/ s00530-022-00997-5

DOI: 10.1007/s00530-022-00997-5

[13] User Authentication Method Based on Keystroke Dynamics and Mouse Dynamics with Scene-Irrelated Features in Hybrid Scenes, Xiujuan Wang, Yutong Shi, Kangfeng Zheng, Yuyang Zhang, Weijie Hong, Siwei Cao, https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/17/6627

DOI: 10.3390/s22176627