Cyber security

Article from: EngineerIT, September 2012

EngineerIT invited a group of experts representing a number of companies to contribute to a virtual panel discussion on security issues in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, including a debate around the Air Gap principle.

New Stuxnet White Paper: Analysis of the Siemens WinCC / PCS7 “Stuxnet” Malware for Industrial Control System Professionals.

Stuxnet is a computer worm designed to take advantage of a number of previously unknown vulnerabilities present in the Windows operating system and Siemens SIMATIC WinCC, PCS7 and S7 product lines.

It was designed to target one or more industrial systems that use Siemens PLCs with the apparent objective of sabotaging industrial processes.

This White Paper summarizes the current known facts about the Stuxnet worm and the actions that operators of SCADA and ICS systems can take to protect critical operations.

Also included is Joel Langill's excellent video that shows in detail how Stuxnet infects a system.

by Eric Byres, security expert and CTO of Byres Security and Thomas J. Burke, President, OPC Foundation.

OPC Classic is a software interface technology used to facilitate the transfer of data between different industrial control systems. It is widely used to interconnect Human Machine Interface (HMI) workstations, data historians and other hosts on the control network with enterprise databases, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and other business-oriented software. Unfortunately, securely deploying OPC Classic has proven to be a challenge until recently.

Article in:  ControlGlobal, June 2010

The majority of control system cyber threats are unintentional, as discussed in this article that summarizes data from the Repository of Industrial Security Incidents (RISI).  Tips on how to start reducing the risk of cyber threats are provided.

Could Cyber Terrorists Attack Our Company?

OPC Classic, the popular industrial integration standard based on DCOM, has made the interfacing of different industrial control products significantly easy. Unfortunately, it also brought with it a number of serious security concerns for the designers of control, SCADA and safety systems.

Pre-staging or pre-deploying Tofino Security Appliances offers a unique solution offering enhanced security and easy deployment for remote or operational installations. This application note contains information on configuring and using this method of deployment.

Version 1.4 of the Tofino Industrial Security Solution introduced a new set of Tofino Loadable Security Modules (LSMs) that enable the creation of Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections in control networks. The Tofino VPN is designed specifically for use within an industrial environment, so it has some unique features tailored for use within SCADA and control systems:

As Distributed Control System (DCS) architectures integrate more IT-based technologies (such as Ethernet and Windows), it is important to implement a sound security strategy. This application note describes how Honeywell Process Solutions uses the Tofino Security Appliance (SA) to protect a system that is being migrated from an older TDC2000 DCS to modern Ethernet Experion™ PKS system.