The Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group (ICSJWG) will hold the virtual 2021 ICSJWG Fall Meeting, September 21—22, 2021. ICSJWG meetings facilitate relationship building among critical infrastructure stakeholders and owners/operators of industrial control systems, idea exchange regarding critical issues affecting industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity, and information sharing to reduce the risk to the nation’s industrial control systems.

Digital twin technology enables the creation of electronic representations of real-world entities and the viewing of the state of those entities. Its full vision will require standards that have not yet been developed. It is relatively new although it uses many existing foundational technologies and, in many cases, appears similar to existing modeling and simulation capabilities. This report attempts to provide clarity in understanding the concept and purpose of digital twins. It offers a new definition for a digital twin, and describes characteristics, features, functions, and expected operational uses. The report then discusses novel cybersecurity challenges presented by digital twin architectures. Lastly, it discusses traditional cybersecurity challenges as well as trust considerations in the context of existing NIST guidance and documents.