Security vulnerabilities and risks in industrial usage of wireless communication

Abstract

Due to its availability and low cost, the use of wireless communication technologies increases in domains beyond the originally intended usage areas, e.g. M2M communication in industrial applications. Such industrial applications often have specific security requirements. Hence, it is important to understand the characteristics of such applications and evaluate the vulnerabilities bearing the highest risk in this context. We present a comprehensive overview of security issues and features in existing WLAN, NFC and ZigBee standards, investigating the usage characteristics of these standards in industrial environments. We apply standard risk assessment methods to identify vulnerabilities with the highest risk across multiple technologies. We present a threat catalogue, conclude in which direction new mitigation methods should progress and how security analysis methods should be extended to meet requirements in the M2M domain.