IEC 60870-5-7 / 62351-3/5 encrypted links

IEC TC57 (POWER SYSTEMS management and associated information exchange) develops the standards 60870 and 62351. IEC 60870 part 5 (by WG3) describes systems used for telecontrol. IEC 62351 (by WG15) handles the security of TC 57 series.

IEC TC57 WG15 recommends the combination of IEC 62351-3 and 5 to secure IEC 60870-5-104 links:

  • IEC 62351-3 is a TLS profile to secure power systems related communication.
  • IEC 62351-5 is an application security protocol applicable to IEC 60870-5-101, 104, and derivatives. Its implementation in terms of ASDUs (i.e., real encapsulation) is outlined in IEC 60870-5-7.

In order to decrypt IEC 62351-3 (TLS) traffic, you must meet these conditions:

  • The private key for each TLS server (e.g. RTU, PLC) must be available; it is used to derive session keys.
  • All the equipment where decryption is needed must operate using the TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA (0x00002f) cipher suite. Often, this step is accomplished by forcing either the client or the server to confine itself to that specific cipher suite.