Practical SCADA Security

Control System Security Threats, Security / Reliability Incidents, Useful Industrial Cyber Security Tips

Using ANSI/ISA-99 Standards for SCADA Security (plus White Paper)
Eric Byres
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Recently I wrote about one of the fundamentals of industrial cyber security, which is the concept of Defense in Depth.
 

Today I am going to write about another foundation concept, which goes hand-in-hand with Defense in Depth, and that is using ANSI/ISA-99 Standards to improve control system security.

Factors that have degraded Control Network Security

There are two opposing trends impacting control network design today:

 

1.    The trend toward greater “interconnectedness” of control systems with enterprise systems as organizations seek increased...

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Why SCADA Firewalls Need to be Stateful – Part 3 of 3
Joel Langill
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

In Part 1 of this series I explained what “state” means in network communications and the hazards of stateless security.  Part 2  detailed the behavior of a stateless firewall and included a demonstration of me attacking one. In this closing article, I describe stateful inspection and its importance in securing ICS and SCADA systems.

Stateful Firewall Inspection

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Securing Control Systems with System Integrators
Frank Williams
Thursday, May 3, 2012

Last week both Tofino Security and Belden participated in the Control Systems Integrators Conference in Scottsdale Arizona. The conference is organized by the Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA) and this year the event boasted 500 System Integrator companies in attendance.

Systems Integrators (SIs) are Key to Automation Companies

You have likely worked with a SI to introduce new equipment or to integrate technologies in your facility.  They are important enablers and...

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Why SCADA Firewalls Need to be Stateful – Part 2 of 3
Joel Langill
Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In Part 1 of this series, I explained what a stateless firewall is and the hazards of stateless security.  In this article I will show you just how dangerously insecure these devices are.

Setting Up the Stateless Firewall

Let’s consider a simple session where a client computer issues a request to a web server using the HTTP protocol as shown in the figure below. As defined in the IETF specifications, this message will contain the IP addresses of both computers (“src.ip” and “dst.ip”in Figure 1). It will also contain the number 80 in the destination port (“dst.port”) field to indicate that the TCP packet contains a message for a HTTP server.

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Effective Security Requires Involved Leadership
ernest.hayden
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Note from Eric Byres:  As cyber threats directed at industry become more common, it is important for top executives to become involved with their organization’s cyber security policies.  The following article by Ernie Hayden comments on the situation from an IT perspective.  My point of view is that today’s threats to operational systems merit the same degree of management attention.  Enjoy Ernie’s article and make use of the data in Verizon’s excellent report.

 

In reading about critical infrastructure protection and cyber security issues every day, I’m beginning to see a theme in our industry that is of special interest to me...

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The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the Contributors. Content published here does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Byres Security Inc.

 

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