Rockwell launches industrial security initiative
05 September, 2013Rockwell Automation has launched an initiative to help manufacturers better protect their control systems from cybersecurity threats. Automation and IT professionals will be able to more effectively secure their industrial processes with the initiative, which uses control system design and best practices, contemporary technologies and professional services from Rockwell and its strategic partnerships.
Cybersecurity policies that threaten productivity
05 August, 2013 by Mark Elrick*Networks, properly designed for security and fully exploited, can add value to a business, but for many businesses in the Australian manufacturing industries, the fear of internet-borne nasties infecting a network is not uncommon, and may be unnecessarily limiting the productivity gains that current and emerging technologies offer.
Chinese hacker group blamed for Telvent customer file hacking
05 October, 2012Schneider Electric subsidiary Telvent Canada has blamed the recent intrusion to its network on a Chinese group calling themselves the Comment Group or Comment Crew.
Honeywell announces new cybersecurity solution at HUG Symposium
07 August, 2012Honeywell has announced a fully certified application control and whitelisting solution to help combat viruses and malware from attacking its Experion PKS control system platform.
Post-Stuxnet industrial security
17 August, 2011 by Torsten Rössel, Director of Business Development, Innominate Security Technologies AG, GermanyBy now, Stuxnet has become well known as the computer malware worm that allegedly infected Iranian organisations in 2010, most notably those plants alleged to be used for uranium enrichment. But regardless of its original purpose, Stuxnet now proves that insufficient IT security opens automation networks to a clear and present threat.
Matrikon OPC Tunneller
01 August, 2011 byOPC Tunneller from MatrikonOPC now supports encryption and data compression to provide an easy, reliable and secure way to communicate between networked computers. It does away with the difficulties typically associated with DCOM configuration. Different protocols, security settings or locations are no longer a factor when sharing data between computers. This is achieved by installing OPC Tunneller on the OPC client and OPC server nodes and then telling the Tunneller client where the Tunneller server exists.
Effective OPC security for control systems - Part 2
21 July, 2011 by Eric Byres, PEng, ISA Fellow, CTO, Byres Security IncRecent security incidents such as the Stuxnet worm that attacked Siemens WinCC and PCS7 systems in Iran and the remote sabotage of a Texas power utility are a wake-up call for the industrial automation industry. We continue our article from last month with a more in-depth look at the concept of ‘defence in depth’.
Effective OPC security for control systems - Part 1
02 July, 2011For the past decade, industrial control systems administrators and engineers wanted to believe that ‘air gaps’ truly existed between their systems and the rest of the world. They have also hoped that ‘security by obscurity’ would keep them safe from security threats. Those days are over...
Invensys Triconex/Tofino OPC firewall
17 May, 2010 byThe Triconex/Tofino OPC firewall is designed to harden industrial safety systems against network accidents and attacks. It is claimed to be the first firewall that protects integrated applications based on OPC Classic, the widely used industrial integration protocol.
ABB and Saab collaborating on civil security solutions
17 December, 2008ABB and Saab AB have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on solutions for the civil security market and process industries.
Securing SCADA field systems — Part 2
27 November, 2008 by Kevin L Finnan*Part 1 of this article introduced the standards efforts in relation to best practices in securing SCADA systems and introduced some key practices in protecting remote control systems. In Part 2, we discuss physical protection of remote RTU systems and highlight best practices for dealing with system failure.
Securing SCADA field systems — Part 1
22 October, 2008 by Kevin L Finnan*The most famous attack on a SCADA system took place in Australia in 2001. As reported by news.com.au and other sources, Vitek Boden, a disgruntled former employee of the contractor who installed a computer system for the Maroochy Shire Council, near Brisbane, later hacked into the system.
Trends in security incidents in the SCADA and process industries: a summary — Part 2
20 October, 2007 by Glenn Johnson*In Part 1 of this article we discussed the findings from the Industrial Security Industry Database, which indicated a significant rise in cyber attacks on SCADA, manufacturing and processing systems.
Trends in security incidents in the SCADA and process industries: a summary — Part 1
20 September, 2007 by Glenn Johnson*Historically, critical infrastructures and manufacturing processes have been monitored and controlled using industrial control and SCADA systems that have operated in isolated environments. These control systems rarely shared information with outside systems, and were typically composed of proprietary hardware and software components designed specifically for control operations.
