The operation fields in industrial control protocols play a critical role in recognizing industrial control network behavior, understanding and monitoring network activities, and accurately identifying and extracting operation fields from industrial control network traffic. However, current methods for operation field recognition often rely on expert experience or manual analysis based on program execution, resulting in low efficiency, limited generalizability, and an inability to handle many undisclosed proprietary protocols or automatically recognize operation fields in complex network scenarios with unknown contexts and protocols. Therefore, this study uses the unique domain characteristics of industrial control networks and proposes an operational field recognition method based on the steady-state properties of industrial control protocols, overcoming the limitations imposed by protocols and programs. First, by preprocessing industrial control network session data, such as session reconstruction and fragmented packet reassembly, the value sequences of various fields at the application layer of the data packets are extracted. Then, through analysis of the stability, periodicity, and correlation of these value sequences, operation fields exhibit steady-state properties characterized by stability, high periodicity, and high correlation. These steady-state properties are quantified as features of operation fields. Next, an unsupervised clustering method is employed to effectively distinguish operation fields from other fields, ultimately achieving automatic recognition of operation fields. The proposed method demonstrates significant value in industrial control protocol security testing, regulating industrial control behavior, and anomaly detection in industrial control systems. For example, by utilizing the recognition results of operation fields, it becomes possible to construct and generate effective fuzzy testing data to enhance the security of industrial control systems. Through extensive validation in various industrial control system environments, including power grids, water treatment experimental platforms, and real industrial control traffic data, the method achieves a recognition rate of over 90% for operation fields, demonstrating its effectiveness and generalizability. In addition, in the experimental section, the influence of data size and quality on the method is discussed in detail. The proposed method accomplishes the recognition task with relatively small amounts of data but requires high-quality traffic data with minimal artificial operations or noise in the industrial control system traffic. Therefore, in practical applications, it is important to ensure the accuracy and purity of industrial control system traffic data. In conclusion, the operation field recognition method based on the steady-state properties of industrial control protocols rapidly and accurately identifies operation fields by analyzing features such as stability, periodicity, and correlation, without relying on specific protocol specifications or source code analysis. The method provides essential technical support for industrial control network security monitoring and behavior analysis, while also providing new possibilities for intelligent control and management of industrial control systems.
StofferK, FalcoJ, ScarfoneK.Guide to industrial control systems (ICS) security[J].NIST Special Publication,2015,800(82):10‒115.
[2]
HuYan, YangAn, LiHong,et al.A survey of intrusion detection on industrial control systems[J].International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks,2018,14(8):155014771879461. doi:10.1177/1550147718794615
[3]
HuangTao, FuAnmin, JiYukai,et al.Research and challenges on reverse analysis technology of industrial control protocol[J].Journal of Computer Research and Development,2022,59(5):1015‒1034.
ContiM, DonadelD, TurrinF.A survey on industrial control system testbeds and datasets for security research[J].IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials,2021,23(4):2248‒2294. doi:10.1109/comst.2021.3094360
[6]
RyalatM, ElMoaqetH, AlFaouriM.Design of a smart factory based on cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things towards industry 4.0[J].Applied Sciences,2023,13(4):2156. doi:10.3390/app13042156
[7]
GhoshT, BaguiS, BaguiS,et al.Anomaly detection for modbus over TCP in control systems using entropy and classification-based analysis[J].Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy,2023,3(4):895‒913. doi:10.3390/jcp3040041
[8]
BruschiD, Di PasqualeA, LanziA,et al.Ensuring cybersecurity for industrial networks:A solution for ARP-based MITM attacks[J].Journal of Computer Security,2024,32(5):447‒475. doi:10.3233/jcs-230023
[9]
MaBiao, HuMengna, ZhangChonghao,et al.Traffic anomaly detection method of industrial control network based on Fusion Markov Model[J].Journal of Information Security,2022,7(3):17‒32.
TianZheng, WuWeidong, LiShu,et al.Industrial control intrusion detection model based on S7 protocol[C]//Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE 3rd Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration.Changsha:IEEE,2019:2647‒2652. doi:10.1109/ei247390.2019.9062159
[12]
YangAn, SunLimin, ShiZhiqiang,et al.Sbsd:Detecting the sequence attack through sensor data in ICSs[C]//Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications.Kansas:IEEE,2018:1‒7. doi:10.1109/icc.2018.8422282
[13]
GaoJianlei, LiJun, JiangHao,et al.A new Detection Approach against attack/intrusion in Measurement and Control System with Fins protocol[C]//Proceedings of the 2020 Chinese Automation Congress.Shanghai:IEEE,2020:3691‒3696. doi:10.1109/cac51589.2020.9327136
[14]
WangBin, LiFeng, ChenTao,et al.Research on deep analysis technology of real time interaction protocol in power industrial control system[C]//Proceedings of the 2021 IEEE 2nd International Conference on Information Technology,Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.Chongqing:IEEE,2021:75‒80. doi:10.1109/iciba52610.2021.9688081
[15]
WangBin, ZhangJianye, LuoCheng,et al.Research on deep detection technology of abnormal behavior of power industrial control system[C]//2022 IEEE 6th Information Technology and Mechatronics Engineering Conference.Chongqing:IEEE,2022,6:1256‒1261. doi:10.1109/itoec53115.2022.9734439
[16]
WeiXiao, LiuRenhui, XuFengkai.Reverse analysis of industrial control protocol based on static binary analysis[J].Application of Electronic Technique,2018,44(3):126‒130.
[17]
RuanWei, HuangGuangping, ChenLiang,et al.Deep analysis method of private protocol in industrial control system[J].Electronic Technology & Software Engineering,2019,22:3‒4.
WuZewei, ShuMin, ShiJunzheng,et al.How to reverse engineer ICS protocols using pair‒HMM[M]//Information and Communication Technology for Intelligent Systems.Singapore:Springer Singapore,2018:115‒125. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-1747-7_12
[20]
ShimK S, GooY H, LeeM S,et al.Clustering method in protocol reverse engineering for industrial protocols[J].International Journal of Network Management,2020,30(6):e2126. doi:10.1002/nem.2126
[21]
YeYapeng, ZhangZhuo, WangFei,et al.NetPlier:Probabilistic network protocol reverse engineering from message traces[C]//Proceedings of 2021 Network and Distributed System Security Symposium.Chicago:The Internet Society,2021:24531. doi:10.14722/ndss.2021.24531
[22]
ChandlerJ, WickA, FisherK. BinaryInferno:A semantic-driven approach to field inference for binary message formats[C]//Proceedings of 30th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium.San Diego:The Internet Society,2023:23131. doi:10.14722/ndss.2023.23131
[23]
ZhaoRui, LiuZhaohui.Analysis of private industrial control protocol format based on LSTM‒FCN model[C]//Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Aviation Safety and Information Technology.Weihai:ACM,2020:330‒335. doi:10.1145/3434581.3434686
[24]
NarayananS N, JoshiA, BoseR.ABATe:Automatic behavioral abstraction technique to detect anomalies in smart cyber-physical systems[J].IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing,2022,19(3):1673‒1686. doi:10.1109/tdsc.2020.3034331
[25]
LiuRan, ZhaoZhenyuan, GuanZhiguang.Research on remote control system of excavator based on industrial Internet of Things[C]//Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Engineering and Networks.Singapore:Springer Nature Singapore,2024:492‒500. doi:10.1007/978-981-99-9239-3_48
[26]
LemayA, FernandezJ M. Providing SCADA network data sets for intrusion detection research[C]//Proceedings of 9th Workshop on Cyber Security Experimentation and Test.Austin:USENIX Association,2016:6‒6.
[27]
LemayA, FernandezJ, KnightS.An isolated virtual cluster for SCADA network security research[C]//Proceedings of 1st International Symposium for ICS & SCADA Cyber Security Research.Leicester:BCS Learning Development Ltd.,2013:88‒96. doi:10.14236/ewic/icscsr2013.0
[28]
GohJ, AdepuS, JunejoK N,et al.A dataset to support research in the design of secure water treatment systems[M]//Critical Information Infrastructures Security.Cham:Springer International Publishing,2017:88‒99. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-71368-7_8
[29]
ZhangY, ZhouY. Review of clustering algorithms[J]. Journal of Computer Applications,2019,39(7):1869.