KevTheHermit
Kev Breen currently serves as Senior Director of Cyber Threat Research at Immersive, where he helps organizations assess, build, and prove their Cyber Workforce Resilience. He is a renowned expert on new and emerging threats.
Prior to his time at Immersive, Breen spent 15 years in the military with the Royal Signals, starting as a radio technician repairing radio electronics and communications, before moving on to digital networks specialising as a malware analyst protecting UK MOD networks against cyber attacks. With over two decades of experience in IT and cybersecurity, Breen has learned the tradecraft for defensive, offensive, and deceptive cyber operations.
Breen has conducted extensive open-source research, including creating and releasing toolkits for network defenders, mainly for malware analysis and decryption, as well as writing the YARA rules, which are still recommended by VirusTotal. Breen’s open-source research gets a lot of attention, not only from the cybersecurity community, but also from the threat actors themselves.
Session
Industrial Control Systems and Operational Technology security is a growing field, but the barrier to entry remains prohibitively high. Commercial PLCs cost hundreds of pounds, training courses run into thousands, and purpose-built lab equipment can rival the price of a small car. This leaves aspiring OT security researchers stuck reading theory without hands-on practice.
This talk charts a practical journey from zero to a functional OT security lab without breaking the bank.
We begin with purely software-based approaches using OpenPLC and PyModbus to simulate industrial environments on hardware you already own. From there, we graduate to Arduino and microcontroller-based solutions, which run real PLC logic on inexpensive development boards. We then enhance these setups with LEDs, switches, and physical I/O to visualize ladder logic execution in real-time, making abstract concepts tangible.
To bring industrial processes to life, we explore 3D-printed models of substations, pumpjacks, and conveyor systems that respond to PLC outputs, creating compelling demonstrations without the need for large industrial budgets.
We also navigate the second-hand market for genuine PLCs and HMIs, discussing the licensing pitfalls, firmware challenges, and security considerations that await bargain hunters.
Finally, we announce the open-source release of the ModPwn Challenge Board a Raspberry Pi Pico-based Modbus challenge board - a complete attack and visualisation platform buildable for under £15, enabling anyone to practice Modbus protocol attacks and visualise the inputs and output.
Attendees will leave with practical blueprints, parts lists, and open-source tools to build their own OT security labs immediately.