PLC Playground: Hands-On Industrial Control Systems Attacks

Level of Instruction: Beginner

Instructed by: Anthony "Coin" Rose, Daniel Koranek, Tyler Bertles, César Ramirez

Abstract:

Ever wanted to tinker with a real industrial controller without risking a plant meltdown? In this workshop, you'll get to play in a PLC playground using actual industrial control hardware like the MicroLogix 1100 PLC that simulates physical processes like a fluid tank and a garage door. Guided by ladder logic programming and Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) tuning exercises, you will program the PLC to maintain tank levels and move machines, observing how the control system responds in real-time.

This workshop focuses on directly interacting with and exploiting the physical PLC hardware and its underlying protocols with a hardware-in-the-loop setup that includes an HMI. Participants won't just click buttons. They'll write ladder logic, interact with real I/O, and observe how PLCs process and respond to industrial inputs in real-time. Along the way, we'll highlight common ICS quirks and vulnerabilities (from insecure protocols to "insecure by design" logic) that can make these systems a hacker's playground. The Hardware In the Loop Industrial Control System (HILICS) kits used in this workshop are an open-source project that was designed and built by the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) to provide a safe, scalable platform for exploring the cyber-physical dynamics of ICS environments.

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