Cybersecurity Risk Consequence Assignment in Industrial Process Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Industrial process control environments face challenges in accurately assessing and quantifying cyber-security risks due to inconsistencies in consequence values, which hinder the generation of reliable risk scores and effective risk management.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that identify multiple devices or groups within an industrial process control system, obtaining impact values for potential effects of cyber-security risks and assigning consequence values using a risk manager to determine overall effects, allowing for consistent risk quantification and prioritization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional control systems use multiple devices from different vendors, then system functionality and versatility are improved, but cyber-security vulnerability and risk assessment difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the cyber-security risk assessment into device-level and system-level evaluations. Each device is assessed individually for its security posture and impact, then aggregated to determine overall system risk. This segmentation allows manageable assessment of complex multi-vendor systems while maintaining comprehensive security evaluation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning specific impact values to different devices based on their individual characteristics, functions, and potential consequences of compromise. Each device receives tailored risk weighting rather than uniform assessment, allowing critical devices to be prioritized while maintaining overall system security management.
2Measurement precision
If impact values are obtained for multiple categories of potential effects, then measurement precision of risk assessment is improved, but device complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple impact values across different categories (safety, production, environmental, etc.) into a single aggregated consequence value for each device. This consolidation maintains comprehensive risk assessment while simplifying the data structure for processing and presentation in the risk score calculation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms qualitative impact assessments into quantitative impact values with standardized weightings. By converting categorical risk factors into numerical parameters, the system enables precise measurement while facilitating computational processing through consistent data formats and mathematical aggregation.
3Productivity
If consequence values are assigned to quantify overall effects, then productivity of risk management is improved, but loss of information about specific impact categories may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by maintaining the relationship between individual impact values and the aggregated consequence value. The system provides traceability from the overall risk score back to specific device impacts, allowing managers to drill down from summary metrics to detailed category information when needed for decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The consequence value acts as an intermediary between detailed impact assessments and high-level risk scoring. It serves as a summarized representation that captures overall device risk while preserving the ability to reconstruct specific impact contributions, bridging the gap between detailed analysis and executive decision-making.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes identifying multiple devices or groups of devices in an industrial process control and automation system. The method also includes, for each device or group of devices, (i) obtaining impact values identifying potential effects of a failure or compromise of the device or group of devices due to one or more cyber-security risks and (ii) identifying a consequence value using the impact values. Multiple impact values associated with different categories of potential effects are obtained, and the consequence value identifies an overall effect of the failure or compromise of the device or group of devices.