Deconstruction of Some Industrial Control Systems Cyber-Security Myths

This paper presents a selection of technical issues to address to secure sensitive control systems. The selected issues were chosen because they all suffer from misconceptions and a mythology that needs to be rationalized. The paper first presents and deconstructs a selection of these modern myths. A particular stress is placed on the over-estimated "magical powers" of firewalls, and the belief that proprietary systems are "closed thus invincible" sometimes found in the industrial environments. Technical considerations and solutions are then given to face the reality. The use of firewalls, physical data-diodes and intrusion detection for industrial control systems are discussed.