Utilizing Digital Twin Simulation Technologies to Build ICS Cyber Ranges

With the integration of IT and OT, cyberattacks against ICS have been on the rise recently, and more and more advanced methods are resorted to by attackers to break down the physical system. To do further research in cybersecurity on ICS, building a cyber range is an economical, practical, and necessary approach considering the requirements of availability for the onsite production devices. Using all physical devices to build a cyber range is unrealistic and inflexible due to the high cost while pure software simulation lacks authenticity. Meanwhile, digital twin, a prevalent concept in recent years, shows its potential in ICS cyber ranges for its authenticity and flexibility due to the improvements in modeling methods and network communication. Therefore, the framework, implementation methods, and applications of using digital twin technology to build an ICS cyber range are discussed in this paper.