SIMATIC AX allows assigning passwords for protecting confidential configuration data of a PLC. This refers to data such as private keys that are required for the proper functioning of certificate-based protocols.
In addition to the password mechanism above, Access Protection passwords can be defined for different levels of operations to be executed in the PLC. This restricts execution of these operations on the PLC only to authorized users that know the corresponding password.
For the web server in SIMATIC S7-1500 PLCs, access is managed through users and password. For details, see PLC Web Server Authorization.