Full course description
About this course
Course Snapshot
The course has been developed to help you achieve specific learning outcomes. Working through the content, activities and assessment tasks will help you:
- Understand key security requirements based on design elements of OT systems.
- Implement a secure SCADA environment based on industry best-practice.
- Determine and apply effective penetration testing techniques to discover threats and mitigate vulnerabilities in Operational Technology (OT) systems.
- Devise and justify a cyber attack incident response plan in line with industry standards.
- Analyse and apply cyber security standards, frameworks, and regulations to improve the security posture of OT systems.
- Incorporate and evaluate cybersecurity controls in an OT environment in line with the well-known NIST cybersecurity framework
Each module in the course is concluded with an ungraded practical activity. Many of the activities build on previous ones. It is critical that you complete all activities sequentially in order to maximise your chances of achieving a good outcome from the course. Skipping or missing an activity, or completing an activity incorrectly, means there is a significant risk that subsequent activities will not work as intended. This may impact on your ability to successfully complete assessments.
We may not always provide step by step instructions on how to complete an activity, but self-check solutions are provided with every activity so that you can check your results.
You will have significant opportunity for hands-on practice by building a test lab to enable practical exploration of tactics, techniques, and procedures. A "starter lab" (explained in detail later) will help you to develop solid foundational knowledge of the workings and security of OT.
You will be using Factory I/O to practice real-world control tasks for the purpose of OT security assessment and application. Watch this video to see what you can do in Factory I/O:
In order to get the most out of this course, you should have basic prior understanding and working knowledge of industrial control systems, computer networking, and cyber security.
The activities and assessment in this course will require you to use virtual box as a hypervisor to install VMs. We assume that you have fundamental knowledge of LINUX OS. If you are new to LINUX OS or using it first time, we recommend that you first complete the LINUX and Networking Basics short course.
If you are interested in security analysis of OT systems, and you have basic knowledge of cybersecurity and OT (cyber-physical system or industrial control systems), then this is the right place for you!
Earn a digital badge upon completion. Learners may also claim credit towards a Master of Cyber Security for the 7016ICT Cyber Security of Critical Infrastructure Course.
We recognise that everyone learns at a different pace, and it may take you less or more time depending on your previous knowledge and experience. While there is no set timetable with this course, a study plan or schedule (provided below) is a valuable tool to help manage your time, stay motivated and ensure that all content, activities and assessment are covered.
Recommended completion schedule:
| Module | Assessment |
|---|---|
| 1 Introduction to operational technology security | |
| 2 Control systems and operations | |
| 3 Industrial network protocols: S7, Modbus, DNP and EIP | |
| 4 Industrial communication technologies: OPC, CAN and Zigbee | |
| 5 Identify, Protect, and Detect | |
| 6 OT threat hunting | |
| Assessment 1: Set up a Secure OT network | |
| 7 Detect: Pentesting ICS environments | |
| 8 Detect: Pentesting - Attacking the OT infrastructure | |
| Assessment 2: Pentesting an Industrial Environment | |
| 9 Response and Recovery | |
| 10 Identify: Governance and compliance | |
| 11 Identify: OT Risk Management and Security Controls | |
| Assessment 3: Industry Compliance Reporting |
Professor Ernest Foo
Professor, School of Information and Communication Technology
Dr. Mukhtar Hussain
Research Fellow, School of Information and Communication Technology