MAC-layer Security for Time-Sensitive Switched Ethernet Networks

Abstract

Security remains a key discussion point for industrial networks within critical infrastructure and Industry 4.0 (I4.0)/Smart Manufacturing infrastructures. While availability remains the chief security requirement for highest safety, integrity protection has become somewhat equal to availability in industry. Common integrity protection mechanisms, however, are not practical for the time-sensitive networks (TSNs) characteristic of I4.0 and critical infrastructures, where the time-critical and mission-critical transmissions cannot be negatively affected by the security overhead. To sufficiently protect and support TSNs, it is necessary to design an integrity protection scheme that provides lightweight security particularly at the OSI MAC-layer where the TSN protocols are defined. The development and testing of lightweight cryptographic algorithms provide one mean by which to achieve such an integrity protection, however, additional steps are needed to design and prove a suitable scheme. TSN-MIC is proposed as a viable scheme for MAC-layer security for TSNs in critical infrastructure and I4.0/Smart Manufacturing.