edaWorkshop 2024

In the development of safety-critical control devices, preventing the integration of malware or trojans is essential to ensure the trustworthiness and integrity of all system components. By proactively detecting and mitigating potential threats, this work aims to prevent the occurrence of faulty behavior within industrial plants and mitigate the risk of critical data leakage, thereby enhancing the safety and operational integrity of the developed systems.

This challenge is addressed by creating a trustworthy environment, designed independently and integrated into the system just before commissioning. Central to this concept is the implementation of a selection of diverse observers and monitors within the trustworthy environment. Observers and monitors are strategically positioned at various system components to observe the components behavior and detect a range of potential malfunctions. Deploying the trustworthy environment aims to assure the system’s resilience against both internal and external threats. Fundamental to this concept is that the integration of the trustworthy environment occurs at a late stage in the system development process. The modular approach allows for independent verification and validation of its integrity before deployment and enhances the security posture of the control device.