Blockchain for Increased Cyber-Resiliency of Industrial Edge Environments

Abstract

The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) together with its spread in industrial environments have changed production lines, by dramatically fostering the dynamicity of data sharing and the openness of machines. However, the increased flexibility and openness of the industrial environment (also pushed by the adoption of Edge devices) must not negatively affect the security and safety of production lines and its operational processes. In fact, opening industrial environments towards the Internet and increasing interactions among machines may represent a security threat, if not properly managed. The paper originally proposes the adoption of the Blockchain to securely store in distributed ledgers topology information and access rules, with the primary goal of maximizing the cyber-resiliency of industrial networks. In this manner, it is possible to store and query topology information and security access rules in a completely distributed manner, ensuring data availability even in case a centralized control point is temporarily down or the network partitioned. Moreover, Blockchain consensus algorithms can be used to foster a participative validation of topology information, to reciprocally ensure the identity of interacting machines/nodes, to securely distribute topology information and commands in a privacy-preserving manner, and to trace any past modification in a non-repudiable manner. The paper originally proposes the adoption of the Blockchain to securely store in distributed ledgers topology information and access rules, with the primary goal of maximizing the cyber-resiliency of industrial networks. In this manner, it is possible to store and query topology information and security access rules in a completely distributed manner, ensuring data availability even in case a centralized control point is temporarily down or the network partitioned. Moreover, Blockchain consensus algorithms can be used to foster a participative validation of topology information, to reciprocally ensure the identity of interacting machines/nodes, to securely distribute topology information and commands in a privacy-preserving manner, and to trace any past modification in a non-repudiable manner.