Evaluating OPC UA Security: Insights from DoS Attack Scenarios

This initial study examines the impact of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks on OPC UA communications, focusing on their effects under varying security configurations. Using both the hping3 tool and Claroty’s OPC UA Exploitation Framework, the study found that SecurityMode None permits substantial CPU and RAM resource consumption only with the Exploitation Framework attack, while hping3 had no such impact. Security configurations employing Sign or Sign and Encrypt effectively blocked the attack by rejecting connection attempts. These results highlight the critical role of robust protective mechanisms in defending systems with OPC UA communication against DoS threats.