Valid Assumptions for Penetration Testing of Cyber-Physical Systems
Question
A company hired a penetration-testing team to review the cyber-physical systems in a manufacturing plant.
The team immediately discovered the supervisory systems and PLCs are both connected to the company intranet.
Which of the following assumptions, if made by the penetration-testing team, is MOST likely to be valid?
Answers
Explanations
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A. B. C. D.C.
The most likely assumption that can be made by the penetration-testing team given the scenario described is:
C. Controllers will not validate the origin of commands.
Explanation:
Supervisory systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) are essential components of a manufacturing plant's cyber-physical systems. These systems are often connected to the company intranet for remote access and monitoring.
In the given scenario, the penetration-testing team has discovered that both the supervisory systems and PLCs are connected to the company intranet, which poses a potential security risk. The team now needs to identify the vulnerabilities and assess the impact of a possible cyber-attack on these systems.
Option A, "PLCs will not act upon commands injected over the network," is not a valid assumption because a PLC can execute commands injected over the network if the attacker knows the correct protocol and communication commands. PLCs have been known to be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, and attackers have been able to remotely control them.
Option B, "Supervisors and controllers are on a separate virtual network by default," is not a valid assumption either because it's not mentioned in the scenario, and the team has already discovered that both the systems are connected to the company intranet.
Option D, "Supervisory systems will detect a malicious injection of code/commands," is also not a valid assumption because the supervisory systems might not detect a malicious injection of code/commands unless there are specific security measures in place to monitor and prevent such attacks.
Option C, "Controllers will not validate the origin of commands," is the most likely valid assumption because controllers might not have a security mechanism in place to verify the source of the commands they receive. This means that an attacker can inject malicious commands into the system, and the controller will execute them without validating their origin.
Therefore, option C is the most likely valid assumption made by the penetration-testing team in the given scenario.
