A cloud-based experimental platform for networked industrial control systems

Today,a large number of information and communication technologies(ICT)and networking technologies are being used in industrial control systems.Thus,networked industrial control systems(NICS)are exposed to many security threats.Moreover,new technologies for NICS also need to be tested.This paper presents a cloud-based experimental platform for NICS to test new technologies and security threats.A cloud platform is used to emulate network devices and Simulink is used to simulate the physical layer.To build this testbed,we modify the cloud platform and add three modules to the testbed.One module is used so that the cloud platform can connect to real devices.By using this module,real devices can be added to the networks in the cloud platform.The second module is used for network connection configurations in the testbed.By using this module,the bandwidth,delay and packet loss rate for networks in the testbed can all be set.The third module is used to connect the Simulink to the testbed.The main features of the proposed platform are high flexibility,high authenticity,and low cost.Advanced persistent threat(APT)attacks are a common threat for NICS nowadays.In order to prove the feasibility of the proposed testbed,a common NICS is established and an APT attack is executed on it.