Hacking Exposed Industrial Control Systems: ICS and SCADA Security Secrets & Solutions

I was very excited to see this book announced, although I wasn’t sure what to expect because for me personally, the “Hacking Exposed” book series has been hit or miss over the years. Some have been really good, while others weren’t really for me. I’ve finally finished reading this one and here are my thoughts:First, and contrary to a negative review that I saw posted. This book successfully delivers what it claims. In the introduction, the authors state very clearly what the book is intended for and what it isn’t. They don’t claim to release “0days” or anything that isn’t already publically available. In fact, none of the "Hacking Exposed" books have ever really about that. They also don’t claim to be a complete step-by-step penetration testing guide. They do however provide excellent references and resources for everything that they do not cover in detail. For me, the success and usefulness of the book is the way that the authors have taken all of this ICS security relevant information that is scattered about all over the place, and put it together in one book, organized in a cohesive and strategic manner that is specifically applicable to ICS. The authors clearly understand asset owners and operators as well as their systems and operations.If you are an experienced “hardware hacker” guru then no, this book probably isn’t going to dazzle you with new cutting edge techniques. But I don’t think that is the intended purpose of the book and the authors don’t claim as much. I think experienced penetration testers can probably benefit from the ICS specific strategies that the authors lay out, and maybe even some of the techniques in later chapters. I agree that there could be more hands on labs and step-by-step instruction on the examples provided, but I appreciate the fact that they are not exactly providing a step-by-step playbook for just any “script kiddie” that might want to attack a plant, refinery, substation, etc. I feel like this book adequately provides what you need, to those that need it, and references to further reading for those that want/need more.I find that this book is a good “follow-on” companion to other ICS security books on my shelf such as “Industrial Network Security” by Joel Langill (SCADAHacker himself) and Eric Knapp and “Cyber Security for Industrial Control Systems” by Bryan Singer et all (who is also a co-author for this book). It completes the overall picture by providing some detail on the more offensive perspective. The case studies were very interesting and entertaining for me, and helped me get my head around the big picture. Chapter 1 did seem a little light if you are looking for more details about ICS/SCADA in general, but I think it was adequate enough to comprehend what is covered in this book. Chapters 2 and 3 were also very interesting to me because I’ve never seen anyone explain risk assessment and threat modeling from an ICS perspective like that before. Very well done and I think this is where asset owners and operators will get the most benefit. Chapters 4-8 are the more technical chapters with the classic “Hacking Exposed” feel to it. Yes there are some cross-referenced methods and tools but I certainly wasn’t aware of them.In the end, is this book the end all be all? No. But it doesn’t claim to be. It is a much needed reference from a different perspective for the ICS security community.

This is an excellent introduction to ICS security that can benefit several audiences including infosec or software engineers looking to enter ICS security or controls engineers looking for a "red team" view of the systems they are building. It is precisely what I expected based on the preview that is available without purchase. Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 stand out in particular; the former provides an excellent overview of several popular ICS protocol vulnerabilities and the latter provides several easy to understand examples of exploitation strategies.That said, a few points worth noting:- I've not read other "Hacking Exposed" books so I cannot speak to how it compares to other offerings. I will point out that it is highly unlikely any single volume can cover security topics in a way that adequately addresses the variation of ICS hardware, software, protocols, and deployment strategies.- As with any introductory book, this one favors breadth over depth and is thus likely to disappoint all readers in some regard, e.g. those with a controls engineering background can likely skip Chapter 1.- Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to ICS Risk Assessment and Threat Modeling - excellent and useful material but further indication that this is not strictly a handbook for "hacking" ICS.

I was excited to see this arrive on my doorstep several days ago and wasted no time in bouncing around the book (I am not one for reading these types of books from front to back). Here’s my impression so far: I love how this book is structured and the writing style is very easy to digest for any technical/nontechnical level. Many foundational topics are addressed here, which is important for anyone who is new to ICS/OT environments or those in OT environments who are looking to understand how security can fit into their strategy. Frameworks, standards and reference models are explained in enough detail to give the reader a solid understanding of where they fit in. The book does go into more technical detail, being useful to those who are at a deeper technical level and can reference the code, packet captures, etc. that are shown in the later chapters. I almost feel like I am sitting in a discussion when I read the chapters, versus trying to digest a white paper. Overall, a great all-around book on ICS security for anyone who wants to know more about it!