Patent Document ID: 10042354
Application ID: 14728180
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An industrial control system comprising multiple inter-communicating industrial control devices coordinated according to a control program, the industrial control system comprising: I. multiple control devices, each control device providing a direct interface to an element of an industrial process, each control device including: (a) a device network port communicating with other elements of the industrial control system through an industrial control network; (b) electrical connectors comprising screw terminals accepting electrical conductors communicating with industrial equipment to transmit electrical signals to that industrial equipment to control the industrial process and receive electrical signals from that industrial equipment, wherein the electrical signals are transmitted and received through the screw terminals, and wherein at least one control device provides an electrical signal controlling power applied to an electric motor; (c) a control device processor communicating with the device network port and electrical connectors; (d) a device electronic memory system accessible by the control device processor and holding: operating software describing operation of a control device, a data table holding representations of the electrical signals of the electrical connectors, a diagnostic program providing outputs monitoring the operation of the control device; the data table and the outputs of the diagnostic program together defining a dynamic device state, wherein the dynamic device state includes a digital signature allowing detection of tampering, and wherein the operating software is executable by the control device processor to: (i) read at least a portion of the dynamic device state to generate a dynamic signature; (ii) encrypt the dynamic signature; and (iii) transmit the dynamic signature over the network port with context data relating to a common control task associated with a plurality of control devices of the industrial control system for linking the dynamic signature with a dynamic signature of another control device based on the common control task, wherein a hierarchy of context envelop collects and encapsulates a plurality of dynamic signatures of the plurality of control devices together as relating to the common control task; and II. a security controller providing: (a) a controller network port communicating with other elements of the industrial control system through an industrial control network; (b) a security controller processor communicating with the controller network port; and (c) a controller electronic memory system accessible by the security controller processor and holding: a security program; wherein the security program is executable by the security controller processor to: (i) receive the context envelope comprising linked dynamic signatures from the plurality of control devices through the network port and decrypt the dynamic signatures; (ii) analyze the dynamic signatures against rules establishing a multi-value range of acceptable dynamic signature values; and (iii) provide an output indicating whether each dynamic signature is outside the multi-value range of acceptable dynamic signature values, and (iv) manage a thumbprint map that comprises, at least, hardware registers information of each of the plurality of control devices which is transmitted uncompressed to enable the security controller to detect any change of source data.