I am attending the Process Control Security Forum... Mike Torpey, the Technical Manager asked for an "armlifting exercise" to show the number of newbies-- and there were a majority of the attendees with their hands in the air.
This poses an interesting question, something that Joe Weiss, formerly of EPRI and KEMA, and I were talking about the other day: the control system security space is being overrun by IT security folk who, three years ago, had never seen a control system. The problem is, of course, that the intense exposure to the way systems are actually used is seriously lacking. This was evident at last year's Forum. Pat Kennedy, CEO of OSISoft, commented to me over a cup of coffee, "One thing is certain. Most of these folks don't know a damn thing about control systems!"
It has gotten so obvious, in fact, that pretty much anybody who talks about "SCADA security" is likely a newbie to the field.
Walt Boyes
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