Framework for enhancing the operational resilience of cyber-manufacturing systems against cyber-attacks

Abstract

Cyber-manufacturing systems (CMS) are interconnected production environments composed of complex and networked cyber-physical systems (CPS) that can be instantiated across one or many locations. While it offers enhanced productivity and efficiency than traditional manufacturing, its inherent properties open the door for new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Defense mechanisms need to be implemented to prevent, detect, and recover from cyber-attacks. This research aims to contribute to the design of more resilient cyber-manufacturing systems. Operational resilience is a system’s ability to withstand cyber-attacks, faults, and failures and continue to operate in a degraded state to carry out its mission. Thus, an operational resilient CMS is capable of withstanding disruptions arising from cyber-attacks while maintaining availability, utilization efficiency, and a quality ratio above degradation thresholds until recovery. This work proposes a novel framework to enhance the operational resilience of CMS against cyber-attacks. The framework consists of four steps: (1) Identify: map CMS production goals, vulnerabilities, and resilience-enhancing mechanisms; (2) Establish: set targets of performance in production output, scrap rate, and downtime at different states; (3) Select: determine which mechanisms are needed and their triggering strategy, and (4) Deploy: integrate into the operation of the CMS the selected mechanisms, threat severity evaluation, and activation strategy.