‘Janus’ Industrial Control System VPN Firewall

The power system is a society-critical infrastructure, and does as such pose a high value target for cyber-attacks with potentially overwhelming consequences. Disgruntled workers, criminal organizations and organizations from foreign states alike have all proven to be active.

Existing security systems are often suffering from an enormous complexity, which inevitably increases the number errors and thus possible attack vectors for cyber criminals. This complexity both applies on a system level as well as on a software level within the components of the system.

The ambition of this project is to demonstrate a VPN and firewall device in the power system build upon the ‘security by simplicity’ principle. This device can in a reliable, efficient and secure manner facilitate and protect communication between two or more network segments.

The proposed Janus VPN and firewall device will significantly reduce the number of attack vectors available to attackers. It will thereby improve the security of the protected system and the security of data sent between components of the system. It will facilitate communication of all existing standards, including IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards, and the system will as such add a new component to previous work done in ForskEL projects like CHPCOM.