Security in agent-based automation systems

Agent systems are a way to increase flexibility of manufacturing execution systems (MES) by scheduling tasks in a distributed autonomous way. Usage of autonomous, collaborative agents and off-the-shelf hardware and software components yet introduce vulnerabilities. This article presents a structural security model for protecting a distributed agent system based on the concept of a hierarchical model. In particular the necessary key system is introduced. The developed security model takes into account typical properties of embedded systems (low computation power, real-time capabilities, autarkic operation) used in automation environments.