Tactic: Initial Access

Technique: Access Hardware Interfaces

Technique in practice

Most devices used in robotics have connected hardware interfaces like motor controllers or wireless controllers. The initial access could be obtained through these connected and trusted devices. If they can be accessed and edited to fit the attackers needs, they could gain access to the main controller of the machine.

Mitigations

Each interface should have its own security measures. Since each interface is different, it is hard to determine a solution that fits all.
One way to apply some security would be to restrict access for each interface to their intended purpose only.

Detections

A way to detect these attacks would be to log all actions from connected devices and flag any actions outside the intended purpose of the device.

Documented incidents with autonomous robots

No incidents known at the time of writing.

Documented incidents in other domains

No incidents known at the time of writing.