Abstract

In modern safety-critical control systems, precise timing is essential for reliable operation. Network safety often depends on the ability to respond promptly to mitigate incidents. Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) enables the design of increasingly complex systems with more nodes and wider geographical coverage.

As TSN is adopted for safety-critical applications, its data security aspects become equally important. A compromised TSN network can cause financial loss, physical damage, or even loss of life. Yet, TSN natively provides limited security mechanisms, leaving components such as time synchronization, scheduling, and network configuration vulnerable to multiple attack vectors. As organizations and industries have identified a need for cyber security, a multitude of standards and regulations have emerged. Therefore, it is relevant to understand how these standards affect TSN.

This presentation will present the general landscape of cyber security standards and highlight relevant security means for TSN. The presentation also examines the attack surface of TSN and strategies to reduce it. In particular, it explores how cryptography and Ethernet-frame authentication can mitigate many threats. We propose leveraging the MACsec standard (IEEE 802.1AE) to provide line-rate encryption and authentication that align with TSN’s stringent performance requirements, ensuring security without sacrificing timing precision.

The Speaker

Niels Frederik Frandsen is a Digital Hardware Design Engineer at Comcores, leading the cybersecurity development. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, specializing in cyber-physical systems, real-time systems, and embedded data security. His experience includes applying Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) in industries like professional audio and automotive.