Access control for cyber-physical systems interconnected to the cloud

The continuous advance in manufacturing and information analytics has improved the connectivity between computational and physical elements within the industry, hence increasing the effectiveness and reliability of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). This progress has been further enhanced by Cloud computing technologies, by externalizing services and interconnecting different industrial networks. As a consequence, there has been an increase of cyber-security threats in the industrial sector in recent years. Among other security measures, it is of paramount importance to introduce flexible access control mechanisms to avoid unauthorized access to the heterogeneous systems that coexist in this context. In this paper, we identify the requirements for such techniques, and propose a novel industrial architecture where multiple access control models are assessed when cloud technologies are integrated. In particular, we emphasize their adaptability to new heterogeneous scenarios through diverse indicators, achieving a trade-off between security and efficiency.