Monitor Process State

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Monitor Process State
Technique
ID	T0801
Tactic	Collection
Data Sources	Network Traffic: Network Traffic Content
Asset	Human-Machine Interface, Control Server, Data Historian, Field Controller/RTU/PLC/IED, Safety Instrumented System/Protection Relay

Description

Adversaries may gather information about the physical process state. This information may be used to gain more information about the process itself or used as a trigger for malicious actions. The sources of process state information may vary such as, OPC tags, historian data, specific PLC block information, or network traffic.

Procedure Examples

• Industroyer's OPC and IEC 61850 protocol modules include the ability to send "stVal" requests to read the status of operational variables.1
• Stuxnet examines fields recorded by the DP_RECV monitor to determine if the target system is in a particular state of operation.2

Mitigations

• Mitigation Limited or Not Effective - This type of attack technique cannot be easily mitigated with preventive controls since it is based on the abuse of system features.

References

1. ^  Anton Cherepanov, ESET. (2017, June 12). Win32/Industroyer: A new threat for industrial control systems. Retrieved September 15, 2017.

2. ^  Nicolas Falliere, Liam O Murchu, Eric Chien. (2011, February). W32.Stuxnet Dossier (Version 1.4). Retrieved September 22, 2017.