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Access Protection

In order to ensure access protection to the standard controller and the safety controller, the notices shown below and the notices in the CODESYS Safety User Manual (chapter: "IT Security during Operation") must be observed and the measures must be implemented.

Access protection for the standard controller

Check possibilities for accessing the controller.

Controllers must not under any circumstances be accessible from the Internet or untrustworthy networks. In particular, the programming ports of the controller must not under no circumstances be accessible from the Internet without protection (usually UDP ports 1740 to 1743 and TCP ports 1217 + 11740 or the controller-specific ports). If access from the Internet needs to be permitted, then it is imperative that there is a secure method of connecting to the controller (example: VPN).

Important

In order to minimize the risk of data security violations, we recommend the following organizational and technical actions for the system where your applications are running:

As far as possible, avoid exposing the PLC and control networks to open networks and the Internet. For protection, use additional data link layers, such as a VPN for teleaccess and install firewall mechanisms. Restrict access to authorized persons, change existing standard passwords during the initial commissioning, and continue to change them regularly. If you want to publish your web visualization despite all warnings, then it is urgently recommended that at least you provide it with simple password protection in order to prevent someone from accessing your controller functionality over the Internet. (See the example in the project "SimpleWebvisuLogin.project", which is provided with the standard installation of the programming system.)

Access protection of the safety controller

Access protection of the safety controller is established with the following mechanisms:

  • User management in the project

  • Administration password

  • Telepassword

  • Identification of the safety controller

User management in the project

Each part of a safety application of a CODESYS project can be protected against unauthorized access by means of appropriate settings in the CODESYS user management.

Important

In order to guarantee the access protection of the safety application, the user must set up a corresponding CODESYS user management (see Protecting and Saving Projects) or use the user configuration integrated in CODESYS Safety Extension (see Setting Up User Management in the Project).

Administration password (boot application password)

The boot application can be protected against unauthorized write access by means of the administrator password (admin password) (see Set admin password).

. Commands that are protected by the administration password:
  • Login

  • Create Boot Application

    Delete boot application

  • Restart boot application

  • Set admin password

  • Update firmware

  • Configure teleaccess

  • Reset cold

  • STOP

  • START

  • Write Values

  • Force Values

  • Unforce Values

  • Change device name

Telepassword

The telepassword protects the safety controller against unauthorized teleaccess. For more information, see: Area 'Access to device').

. Commands that are possible for teleaccess:
  • Login

  • Logout

  • Refresh; button in the Safety Online Information tab of the safety controller

  • Show and save log; buttons in the Log tab of the safety controller

Identification of the safety controller (IEC 62443 Level 1)

The following measure from Security Level 1 of IEC 62443 is implemented:

Measure to avoid logging in to the wrong controller:

  • Entry of the serial number of the safety controller

  • Pressing a button (or switch) on the safety controller

To successfully log in to the safety controller, one of these two actions must be carried out, depending on the safety controller (see Connection confirmation). These measures can be classified as relatively safe because pressing a button must be done manually and directly on the safety controller and the entry of the serial number requires insider knowledge of the machine.