Why Industrial Operations are not Immune Recently, US intelligence chief Dan Coats remarked in a talk at the Hudson Institute that ‘the warning lights are blinking red again’ on cyber attacks, as they were before the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. While Coats addressed most of his comments to the country’s digital infrastructure, he mentioned […]
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Most industrial organizations still consider their ICS networks to be safe from common cyber threats that mainly target IT networks. However, two recent cryptocurrency mining incidents demonstrate that ICS networks are not “sterile” from unwanted software. Moreover, the fact that these cyber incidents took place at critical infrastructure facilities in Europe and Russia shatters the myth that […]
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Renewable resources are good for the environment and reduce consumer costs but they are not a panacea to reducing electric grid cyber threats despite the prevailing view by many that renewable resources can reduce the cyber threat to electric utilities. I did a walkdown of several utility-scale solar facilities. Consider your roof-top solar system and […]
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One of the main reasons cyber risk continues to increase exponentially is due to the rapid expansion of attack surfaces – the places where software programs are vulnerable to attack or probe by an adversary. Attack surfaces, according to the SANS Institute, can include any part of a company’s infrastructure that exposes its networks and systems […]
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Today’s industrial infrastructure is stronger and smarter than ever before. As manufacturers seek greater scalability and efficiency, they’ve automated and digitized their machines to achieve unprecedented power. But these “super” machines have a critical weakness – they were not built to shield against today’s advanced cyberattacks. One single attack – industrial IoT ’s kryptonite – […]
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According to an article published by Trend Micro: “in 2018, digital extortion will be at the core of most cybercriminals’ business model and will propel them into other schemes that will get their hands on potentially hefty payouts. Vulnerabilities in IoT devices will expand the attack surface as devices get further woven into the fabric […]
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Last week, the cyber security focus was on the four natural gas pipeline companies that had their electronic data interfaces, not control systems, hacked. However, from a control and safety system perspective, I believe the more important disclosure was the ICS CERT vulnerability disclosure of the Moxa serial-to-Ethernet convertors (gateways). This is because these types […]
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The use of video surveillance in industrial settings is ever increasing. The convergence of inexpensive high-resolution video, high speed IP, and advanced computing and software technologies have made the benefits of adding video monitoring to critical industrial applications more accessible. Video systems now aid in improving personnel and public safety, process and product quality, and […]
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Power grid outages driven by malware, dam control system attacks, vehicle onboard system hijacking: recent incidents like these show how critical cybersecurity has become in connected operational technology. But if you think OT is “just IT in an industrial environment,” then think again. The worlds of operational technology and information technology are fundamentally different. A […]
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Cyberattacks against financial companies such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup and vendors such as Target, eBay, and Home Depot have received so much media attention these past years. Unknown to many, smart manufacturing companies are also not immune to cyberattacks. According to Deloitte, smart manufacturers are now being targeted not just by random hackers and […]
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When selecting a video solutions partner to provide a system for your critical process, security, or safety monitoring application, it is important to consider that the ultimate solution is much more than a collection of cameras. In addition to cameras, most comprehensive monitoring systems include video management software that provides a flexible platform for the […]
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Even before the major denial-of-service attack that took down power in the Ukraine in December 2015, industrial systems experts had been growing more restive about the mounting insecurities of these mission critical systems. That attack brought significant awareness to this issue. In the 18 months since then we’ve seen other similar examples of what happens […]
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