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Schwartz, Moses Daniel

Publications and source records attributed to Schwartz, Moses Daniel.

PLC backplane analyzer for field forensics and intrusion detection

The various technologies presented herein relate to the determination of unexpected and/or malicious activity occurring between components communicatively coupled across a backplane. Control data, etc., can be intercepted at a backplane where the backplane facilitates communication between a controller and at least one device in an automation process. During interception of the control data, etc., a copy of the control data can be made, e.g., the original control data can be replicated to generate a copy of the original control data. The original control data can continue on to its destination, while the control data copy can be forwarded to an analyzer system to determine whether the control data contains a data anomaly. The content of the copy of the control data can be compared with a previously captured baseline data content, where the baseline data can be captured for a same operational state as the subsequently captured control data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

WeaselBoard :

Critical infrastructures, such as electrical power plants and oil refineries, rely on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to control essential processes. State of the art security cannot detect attacks on PLCs at the hardware or firmware level. This renders critical infrastructure control systems vulnerable to costly and dangerous attacks. WeaselBoard is a PLC backplane analysis system that connects directly to the PLC backplane to capture backplane communications between modules. WeaselBoard forwards inter-module traffic to an external analysis system that detects changes to process control settings, sensor values, module configuration information, firmware updates, and process control program (logic) updates. WeaselBoard provides zero-day exploit detection for PLCs by detecting changes in the PLC and the process. This approach to PLC monitoring is protected under U.S. Patent Application 13/947,887.

Mulder, John C.↗