Cyber-physical attack vulnerabilities in manufacturing quality control tools

With advances in computer and networking technologies, along with the increasing dependency on interconnected cyber-physical components, the threat of cyber-physical attacks against manufacturing is on the rise. As opposed to traditional cyber-attacks, cyber-physical attacks go beyond intellectual property theft and can affect the physical world. In manufacturing, such attacks can result in changed product designs, manipulated manufacturing equipment, and altered final products. For over a century, manufacturing systems have relied heavily on Quality Control (QC) systems to ensure stable processes and product integrity. However, previous research has suggested that current QC tools could be exploited by an adversary, making it difficult or even impossible to detect attacks. Unfortunately, there has been little to no effort to identify/understand opportunities where QC tools could be exploited, which is an essential step toward developing new cyber-security solutions for manufacturing. In response, this paper establishes a systematic approach to effectively categorize QC tool vulnerabilities. Furthermore, to highlight the importance of this research to the manufacturing community, the negative effects of exploiting QC tools by cyber-physical attacks are demonstrated in this paper. Finally, best practices and guidelines for better cyber-physical security in manufacturing are also presented.