Awesome Industrial Protocols

Overview

A security-oriented compilation of resources about industrial network protocols. Covers protocols used in SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), ICS (Industrial Control Systems), and OT (Operational Technology) environments.

Industrial Protocols

Energy Sector

• Modbus - Serial communication protocol for PLCs
• DNP3 - Distributed Network Protocol for SCADA
• IEC 60870-5-104 - Telecontrol protocol for power systems
• IEC 61850 - Substation automation standard

Manufacturing

• OPC UA - Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture
• EtherNet/IP - Industrial Ethernet protocol
• PROFINET - Real-time industrial Ethernet
• Modbus TCP - Modbus over TCP/IP

Building Automation

• BACnet - Building automation and control networks
• KNX - Home and building automation
• LonWorks - Control network protocol

Transportation

• CAN Bus - Controller Area Network
• Ethernet POWERLINK - Real-time Ethernet
• SERCOS - Serial real-time communication system

Security Tools

Protocol Analyzers

• Wireshark - with industrial protocol dissectors
• Nmap - with NSE scripts for ICS
• Scapy - Packet manipulation for protocol testing

Security Assessment

• ISF - Industrial Security Framework
• PLCScan - PLC fingerprinting tool
• Modbus penetration testing tools

Monitoring and Detection

• Zeek (Bro) - Network security monitoring
• Suricata - IDS/IPS with industrial protocol support
• GRASSMARLIN - Passive ICS network mapper

Security Considerations

• Legacy protocol vulnerabilities
• Lack of authentication in many protocols
• Cleartext transmission of commands
• Protocol fuzzing and exploit development
• Network segmentation importance

Research Areas

• Protocol reverse engineering
• Vulnerability discovery
• Attack surface analysis
• Secure protocol design
• Intrusion detection for ICS

Pricing

Free and open-source security research resources.