Forward-looking lab trends table¶

Trend	Impact	Lab adaptations	Evidence practices
Converged OT/IT security	OT devices require IT-style authentication, TLS, patching; traditional isolation insufficient	Emulate full IT/OT stack; include VLAN/SPAN, stub servers, TLS handshake validation	Capture full handshake flows, baseline PCAPs, and serial/console logs; document patch application steps
Automated PoC & evidence capture	Manual logging is slow, error-prone, auditability suffers	Deploy automation scripts for PCAP, serial logs, firmware hashes, baseline captures; integrate with version control	Timestamped artefacts, auto-archived PCAPs/logs, consistent naming conventions, clear audit trails
Protocol-specific fuzzing/mutation	Subtle DoS or replay attacks remain hard to detect	Implement incremental, bounded fuzzing for ICCP/TASE.2, OCPP, Modbus, Zigbee GP; monitor stop conditions	Capture mutated flows separately, include mutation parameters, record serial/console observations
Digital twins & emulation-first testing	Hardware may be expensive, destructive, or scarce	Use QEMU/firmadyne or protocol emulators for rapid iteration; reserve hardware for final validation	Archive emulation logs, capture traffic in virtual networks, link to real hardware confirmation results
Evidence-centric vulnerability reporting	CVEs require reproducible proof without exploits	Standardise recipes, checklists, and test matrices; link PoC steps to captured artefacts	Full PCAPs, serial logs, firmware/stack hashes, screenshots; all committed to restricted repository with audit trail
Integration with larger threat models	CVEs can have cascading network impacts	Simulate multi-device networks, smart grid scenarios; include peer stubs or multiple device clusters	Document network topology, traffic flows, interaction logs; highlight potential upstream/downstream effects
Policy and regulatory pressure	Validation increasingly mandatory; liability for untested systems	Build repeatable, deterministic lab processes; ensure safe, isolated tests and mitigation verification	Maintain clear pre/post patch comparison, timestamped artefacts, compliance checklists; capture mitigation efficacy

This table:

Keeps lab practices forward-compatible with emerging smart energy device security demands.
Emphasises safe, deterministic evidence collection over attack-focused testing.
Tries to figure out where to invest in automation, emulation, and network-level simulation. If not already done, because these comments are based on a speculative lab, so I may be looking backward instead of forward while not minding my feet dancing on quicksand.