Unique identification of entities of an industrial control system

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for issuing unique identification credentials to a plurality of devices, and their constituent components, in an industrial control system. Identification credentials are granted by an identification authority and conveyed to each of the credentialed devices and/or component through an identity token. The identification credentials include (1) a unique device identifier, (2) an identification authority component identifier, and (3) an indication of the location of the identification authority component. To secure the issued credentials, such credentials are encrypted and the identification token can be embedded with biometrics features. Identification credentials provide for the following prominent features: (i) Secure access to a device form a client and (ii) determination a topology of a set of credentialed devices in an industrial control system. The topology is network agnostic and facilitates organizational modeling of processes in the industrial control system.