Abstract
The modernization of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), driven by initiatives such as IT/OT convergence and Industry 4.0, significantly enhances the efficiency, scalability, and interoperability of critical infrastructure systems. However, this increased connectivity also expands the attack surface of ICS environments and exposes traditionally isolated systems to cyber threats. High-profile incidents, including the 2015 Ukraine power grid cyberattack and the 2023 Unitronics PLC cyberattack, demonstrate real-world consequences of inadequate ICS security, emphasizing the need for effective and accessible training in this domain.Despite this need, ICS security education faces persistent challenges. Among them are limited access to realistic training environments and the high cost of physical hardware and proprietary software commonly found in ICS. This thesis addresses these challenges by building upon the Agile Emulated Educational Environment for Guided Industrial Security (AE³GIS) through the development of a realistic, interactive simulation of a wind turbine control system that models key system dynamics and interfaces with OpenPLC, allowing for closed-loop communication between PLC control logic and the simulated physical process.
The integrated PLC and simulator environment deployed within AE³GIS allows the cyber and physical aspects of a wind turbine control system to be modeled alongside their supporting IT infrastructure. As a case study, a guided cyberattack scenario was constructed to illustrate real-world attack techniques and potential defense-in-depth mitigation strategies for IT and OT systems. This case study demonstrates how extensions to the AE³GIS platform to integrate physical process modelling and industrial control logic provide an accessible, reproducible, and context-rich training environment for ICS security education.