VICSORT - A Virtualised ICS Open-source Research Testbed

Abstract

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are at the forefront of most, if not all the critical infrastructure and critical service delivery. ICS underpin modern manufacturing and utility processes and greatly contribute to our day-to-day livelihoods. However, there has been a significant increase in the number and complexity of cyberthreats specifically targetted at ICS, facilitated by increased connectivity in an effort to improve production efficiency. Furthermore, the barriers of entry to ICS cybersecurity are still high given the limited skills base, expensive and proprietary hardware and software as well as the inherent dangers of manipulating real physical processes. This greatly inhibits the practical application of cybersecurity tools in ICS environments and therefore the opportunity for practitioners to gain valuable ICS cybersecurity experience. ICS Testbeds are often either expensive and are not necessarily holistic enough to provide learners with the complete breadth of ICS. This paper introduces VICSORT, a open-source virtualised ICS testbed that provides a platform for ICS cybersecurity learners and practitioners to interface with an ICS environment that closely emulates a real-world ICS, as well as explore and practice techniques for attack and consequently defence of an ICS. VICSORT builds upon the Graphical Realism Framework for Industrial Control Systems (GRFICS) to offer an easier to deploy environment with greater flexibility, whilst requiring significantly less resources all reducing the cost to the learner.