Securing Clock Synchronization in TTEthernet-based IIoT

TTEthernet is an extension of the Ethernet protocol and offers the benefits of communicating different traffic types on the same network backbone. TTEthernet clock synchronization has advantages over alternative options as it provides a strict scheduling algorithm where time-triggered traffic gets priority over event-triggered ones. Thus, the security of traffic communicating in the TTEthernet-based IIoT starting with the clock synchronization as the basis for all traffic communication is the focus of this research. As one of the leading security threats to the TTEthernet clock synchronization, the latency of synchronization frames is investigated and a fitting security solution is proposed in the form of an anomaly detection model. A simulation tool, Visualsim, is used to design three network models, run simulations to study the traffic communicated between end systems and validate the proposed security solution for the different network topologies and complexities. An anomaly detection model is designed using Python to define specific rules that detect anomalous latency of synchronization frames and flag them into a separate list before they are printed into a CSV file for the attention of network practitioners to respond with appropriate resolution. The anomaly detection model uses data from the simulation as input to execute the rules defined to nullify anomalous synchronization frames for latency. Global and local latency thresholds are designed to flag synchronization frames as anomalies and add them to the list which is printed for anomalous latency if they defy the maximum latency thresholds defined in the anomaly detection model. This research offers a novel solution that researchers and network practitioners can use to fill a knowledge gap and improve the security of TTEthernet clock synchronization in the IIoT environment.