Cyber-Physical Attacks with Marina Krotofil

Unsolicited Response

Marina Krotofil recently published the paper Industrial Control Systems: Engineering Foundations and Cyber-Physical Attack Lifecycle which is a detailed paper on cyber attacks that cause a physical impact on the system being monitored and controlled. It took Marina 1.5 years to write this paper, which is more accurately described as a short book. We discuss:

• the work she is doing to help Ukrainian critical infrastructure security during wartime
• what got Marina interested in cyber-physical security 10+ years ago
• the current understanding of cyber-physical in the OT security community
• Chapter 2: Engineering Foundations as a great intro for those in IT to understand basic automation principles
• Chapter 3: Very detailed explanation of a specific process (we don't spend much time on this)
• The Cyber-Physical Attack Lifecycle with emphasis on the Damage Loop. "Plant shutdown is risky for the attacker as it may instigate an investigation"
• Chapter 4.6 is a great conclusion