Review on cyber vulnerabilities of communication protocols in industrial control systems

With the progress of the energy system integration, industrial control system (ICS) plays a more significant role in monitoring and controlling critical infrastructures. The main function of ICS is to gather real-time data, realize device automation, and supervise the system. To achieve this goal, a number of communication protocols have been designed. However, deficiencies of protocol implementation can bring in unintentional risks. In this paper, communication protocols used in ICS are reviewed and analyzed such as DNP3, Modbus, IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25 as well as IEEE C37.118. Then, we present a taxonomy on cyber vulnerabilities of the protocols, along with several typical attacks and countermeasures.