The continuing lack of adequate cyber security consideration in process safety

Jan. 8, 2018

I will be giving the keynote January 25th at the Texas A&M Instrumentation and Automation Symposium where I hope to publicize this issue to the control and safety engineers that attend the Symposium. I am also hoping the new Texas A&M brochure will be modified to better address ICS cyber security.

Cyber security continues to be viewed by most people as data security with little potential impact on process safety. Because of my concern about the cyber security of Level 0,1 devices and process safety, I reviewed NAMUR 163 and provided comments to the Namur 163 committee. Like IEC62443-4-2 “Technical Security Requirements for IACS Components”, neither document appears to adequately address the cyber security of Level 0,1 components (the same can be said for ISA84). I also reviewed the new brochure from the Texas A&M Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center – “Process Safety for the 21st Century and Beyond” which was written for academia and industry. There is no mention of ICS cyber security. This omission represents a potential gap in process safety (think of the recent cyber attack on the Triconex safety system). I will be giving the keynote January 25th at the Texas A&M Instrumentation and Automation Symposium where I hope to publicize this issue to the control and safety engineers that attend the Symposium. I am also hoping the new Texas A&M brochure will be modified to better address ICS cyber security.

Joe Weiss

Sponsored Recommendations

2024 Industry Trends | Oil & Gas

We sit down with our Industry Marketing Manager, Mark Thomas to find out what is trending in Oil & Gas in 2024. Not only that, but we discuss how Endress+Hau...

Level Measurement in Water and Waste Water Lift Stations

Condensation, build up, obstructions and silt can cause difficulties in making reliable level measurements in lift station wet wells. New trends in low cost radar units solve ...

Temperature Transmitters | The Perfect Fit for Your Measuring Point

Our video introduces you to the three most important selection criteria to help you choose the right temperature transmitter for your application. We also ta...

2024 Industry Trends | Gas & LNG

We sit down with our Industry Marketing Manager, Cesar Martinez, to find out what is trending in Gas & LNG in 2024. Not only that, but we discuss how Endress...