The Challenges of the Internet of Things Considering Industrial Control Systems

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing technology and has spread from its residential origins to the industrial environment. This development sometimes known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is gathering pace; however, the consequence of this is that there is an increased cyber risk to industrial systems. A subset of the IIoT is Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that support the infrastructures that support daily life, manufacturing, and agriculture. The identification of the future challenges of this environment is important to the efficient operation and protection of Industrial Control Systems from cyber-attacks. In this paper the concepts of the Internet of Things, the Industrial Internet of Things, and Industrial Control Systems are presented. A comparison is made of the similarities between the IoT and ICS. The paper then continues to describe the challenges associated with the Internet of Things making use of the ICS as an example with practical real-time considerations. The challenges have been subdivided into people, physical, security, and organization structure.