LICSTER -- A Low-cost ICS Security Testbed for Education and Research
It addresses the need for affordable, practical tools for ICS security research and education, though it is incremental as it builds on existing testbed concepts with a cost and accessibility focus.
The paper introduces LICSTER, an open-source low-cost ICS testbed costing about 500 Euro, enabling hands-on security research and education for industrial control systems, which are critical but hard to study on live systems.
Unnoticed by most people, Industrial Control Systems (ICSs) control entire productions and critical infrastructures such as water distribution, smart grid and automotive manufacturing. Due to the ongoing digitalization, these systems are becoming more and more connected in order to enable remote control and monitoring. However, this shift bears significant risks, namely a larger attack surface, which can be exploited by attackers. In order to make these systems more secure, it takes research, which is, however, difficult to conduct on productive systems, since these often have to operate twenty-four-seven. Testbeds are mostly very expensive or based on simulation with no real-world physical process. In this paper, we introduce LICSTER, an open-source low-cost ICS testbed, which enables researchers and students to get hands-on experience with industrial security for about 500 Euro. We provide all necessary material to quickly start ICS hacking, with the focus on low-cost and open-source for education and research.