What is Cyber-Physical System (CPS) Security?

What Is a Cyber-Physical System (CPS)?

A Cyber-Physical System (CPS) is an environment where digital systems and physical systems interact with each other. Sensors collect data from the physical world, software analyzes that data, and control systems send commands back to equipment and processes. This cycle continues in real time, allowing the entire environment to operate as a single system. Importantly, CPS is not limited to operational technology (OT).

A CPS environment typically includes:

• IT systems
• OT systems
• IoT devices
• Cloud environments
• Industrial networks
• Physical assets and equipment

Smart factories, smart cities, healthcare systems, autonomous vehicles, and energy facilities are all common examples of cyber-physical systems.

Why CPS Security Matters

Traditional OT environments were largely isolated from external networks. As organizations adopted remote operations, cloud-based analytics, and smart manufacturing initiatives, the connections between IT and OT environments increased significantly.

This shift created new attack paths. Threat actors can now compromise an IT system and move into OT environments that control physical processes.

While cyber incidents were once primarily associated with data theft, attacks against CPS environments can result in physical and operational consequences, including:

• Production line shutdowns
• Equipment malfunctions
• Product quality issues
• Energy supply disruptions
• Safety system failures
• Interruptions to critical infrastructure services

A production outage or power disruption is no longer caused solely by mechanical failure. Attacks targeting connected control systems, sensors, and industrial equipment can directly affect physical operations.

Many critical infrastructure sectors—including power generation, manufacturing, and water treatment facilities—rely heavily on CPS environments. As a result, attackers may seek not only to steal data but also to disrupt operations or cause physical damage.

White Paper

Unified Approach to CPS Protection

Major Threats in CPS Environments

Attacks Across IT-OT Connections

Many organizations connect IT and OT environments to improve operational efficiency and data sharing. The challenge is that attackers who gain access to the IT network may be able to move into OT systems.

Traditional IT security tools are often designed around servers, endpoints, and enterprise applications. Industrial equipment operates differently and uses specialized communication protocols. This can create visibility gaps that allow malicious activity to go unnoticed.

Legacy System Vulnerabilities

Industrial equipment often remains in service for ten years or more. Because downtime is costly, security patches are not always applied regularly. As a result, known vulnerabilities can remain exposed for long periods, making legacy systems attractive targets for attackers.

Abuse of Remote Access

Remote access has become common in factories, power plants, and other industrial environments. Vendors, contractors, and operators frequently connect remotely to support operations. Weak access controls or compromised credentials can provide attackers with direct access to critical systems.

Compromised USB and Removable Device

USB drives and other removable storage devices are still widely used during maintenance activities. If an infected device is connected to an industrial system, malware can spread throughout the internal network and potentially impact operations.

Lack of Asset Visibility

Many organizations do not have a complete inventory of devices connected to their OT networks. Without clear visibility into assets, security teams struggle to identify vulnerabilities, prioritize risks, or understand how systems communicate. Knowing which devices are connected, how they communicate, and which protocols they use is often the first step toward improving security.

CPS Security and CPS Protection Platforms

As CPS environments continue to expand, dedicated CPS Protection Platforms (CPS PP) have emerged to help organizations manage security across both cyber and physical domains.

These platforms commonly provide capabilities such as:

• OT and IoT asset discovery
• Industrial protocol analysis
• Anomaly detection
• Risk prioritization
• Threat monitoring
• Incident response workflow support

This is particularly important in manufacturing, energy, transportation, and critical infrastructure environments, where operational context is just as important as traditional IT security data.

Core Capabilities of CPS Security

CPS security follows a three-stage process: Identification, Detection, and Response.

Identification

CPS environments consist of interconnected IT, OT, IoT, and cloud systems. Security teams must first understand what exists within the environment. This includes identifying production equipment, PLCs, industrial control systems (ICS), servers, workstations, and network infrastructure. Organizations also need visibility into communications between these assets. Because OT environments typically experience fewer changes than traditional IT networks, establishing a baseline of known assets and normal behavior can provide a strong foundation for identifying suspicious activity.

Detection

Once visibility is established, the next step is detecting threats and abnormal behavior. In CPS environments, organizations need to look beyond malware detection alone. Security teams should monitor for unusual control commands, unauthorized protocols, suspicious remote access activity, and abnormal network communications. Traditional cyber threats such as malware infections and lateral movement remain important concerns. However, in CPS environments, these threats can also affect physical operations, making early detection especially critical.

Response

Responding to incidents in a CPS environment differs from responding to incidents in traditional IT environments. An IT team may isolate or shut down a compromised system with limited operational impact. In OT environments, the same action could disrupt production or affect critical services. For this reason, CPS incident response requires close collaboration between cybersecurity teams, operations personnel, and engineers. The goal is not simply to stop an attack, but to minimize disruption while maintaining operational continuity.

Organizations should support this effort through network segmentation, access control, patch management, application control, and malware protection measures. Ultimately, CPS Protection is built on the principles of identification, detection, and response. What makes CPS security unique is that these activities must be performed across both IT and OT environments as part of a unified security strategy.

Without this broader perspective, organizations may struggle to identify attacks moving between IT and OT systems before they affect physical operations.

FAQ

What We Do for CPS Security

‘AhnLab CPS PLUS,’ is a comprehensive Cyber-Physical System (CPS) security platform that broadly protects OT endpoints and networks across various industries such as manufacturing, oil refining, and transportation, as well as the IT environments connected to OT. By combining AhnLab’s expertise in threat detection and response with its OT technological capabilities, AhnLab CPS PLUS delivers comprehensive security across CPS environments that encompass both IT and OT, covering the full spectrum from identification (visibility) to threat detection and response.

The key advantage of AhnLab CPS PLUS lies in its extensive coverage, offering one of the broadest scopes among existing CPS security platforms across both IT and OT environments. In addition, its advanced technologies and integrated synergies provide customers with a differentiated CPS security experience.

AhnLab CPS PLUS has demonstrated its strong competitiveness by being recognized as a ‘CPS Security Market Leader’ in the ‘Frost Radar™: Cyber-Physical System Security Solutions, 2025’ report published by the global market research firm Frost & Sullivan.