Topic: Safety Systems

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Solving the Process Safety Puzzle
Integrated Safety Systems Offer One Solution, but No One-Size-Fits-All Fix Exists

Fieldbus is Dead! Long Live Fieldbus!
The Competing Communications Technology That Presumably Will Replace All These Buses, Including Process Fieldbuses, Is Ethernet

Automation and Fukushima: Not So Fast
A Reader Responds to Liptak's Article on Fukushima Saying That We Have No Reason to Suspect That the Instruments Did Not Operate Correctly. Liptak Responds

Automation Could Have Prevented Fukushima, 2
Bela Liptak Discusses Automatic vs. Manual Operation of the Emergency Cooling Systems, and the Roles the Bad Designs of Control and Block Valves Played in this Nuclear Accident

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White Papers: In Depth Research

Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems
Author: ABB
Posted: 05/15/2013

The security of industrial automation and control systems becomes increasingly critical as different networks are connected and systems are integrated in a collaborative manufacturing environment. For industrial automation and control systems the potential impact of an attack maybe more serious than for computer systems in general. Users of industrial automation and control systems need to pay correspondingly increased attention to these issues.

Security measures aim at protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of a computer system from being compromised through deliberate or accidental attacks. Similar to process and safety improvements, security improvement needs to be a continuous activity.

This white paper provides background and a general overview of different elements of information system security, with specific emphasis on how it applies to industrial automation and process control. Different security measures that should be considered when an automation system is connected to external networks of different kinds are discussed, including connections to general purpose IS and corporate networks, remote connections, and wireless connections.

Highlights of ABB Automation & Power World 2013 - Connect, Learn, Succeed
Author: ABB
Posted: 04/19/2013

This year's ABB Automation & Power World, held March 25-28 in Orlando, Fla., included a broad range of need-to-know presentations for automation and power professionals on topics ranging from cybersecurity concerns to efficiency and reliability, and data power usage.

Couldn't make it this year? The editors of Control and Control Design were there, and this 26-page special report includes their coverage of the most compelling presentations.

Bound to Fail: Why Cybersecurity Risk Cannot Simply Be Managed Away
Author: Ralph Langner, Perry Pederson, Brookings Instution
Posted: 03/04/2013

Rather than a much-needed initiative to break the legislative deadlock on the subject in Congress, President Obama's new executive order for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity is a recipe for continued failure. In essence, the executive order puts the emphasis on establishing a framework for risk management and relies on voluntary participation of the private sector that owns and operates the majority of U.S. critical infrastructure. Both approaches have been attempted for more than a decade without measurable success. A fundamental reason for this failure is the reliance on the concept of risk management, which frames the whole problem in business logic. Business logic ultimately gives the private sector every reason to argue the always hypothetical risk away, rather than solving the factual problem of insanely vulnerable cyber systems that control the nation's most critical installations.

The authors in this document suggest a policy-based approach that instead sets clear guidelines for asset owners, starting with regulations for new critical infrastructure facilities, and thereby avoids perpetuating the problem in systems and architectures that will be around for decades to come. In contrast to the IT sector, the industrial control systems (ICS) that keep the nation's most critical systems running are much simpler and much less dynamic than contemporary IT systems, which makes eliminating cyber vulnerabilities, most of which are designed into products and system architectures, actually possible. Finally, they argue that a distinction between critical and non-critical systems is a bad idea that contradicts pervasiveness and sustainability of any effort to arrive at robust and well-protected systems.

Register to download this document and learn more. We'd love to have your reaction to what you've read (either positive or negative). After reading the document come back and tell us what you think.

Read what our community experts have to say:

• Can We Use Risk Analysis to Determine the Economics of Cybersecurity?
  By Walt Boyes, editor in chief
• Cybersecurity Responsibility White Paper
  By Joe Weiss, cybersecurity expert and blogger
• Is Field-Based Control More Secure?
  By John Rezabek, proces control specialist

The Use of Surge Protective Devices in Mitigating the Effects of Lightning Strikes in Offshore Oil Applications
Author: Phoenix Contact
Posted: 02/18/2013

Recognizing the prevalence of lightning strikes in the Gulf of Mexico region, several system specifications and practices written for lightning mitigation have been applied and implemented in offshore applications over the last decade. Little has been written about the induced transient secondary effects that occur as a result of inductive or capacitive coupling during a lightning strike. This paper will examine the links between the primary lightning strike and induced transient secondary effects. It will also discuss the mitigation of conducted transient effects in power and monitoring circuits through the proper application of surge protective devices (SPDs).

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