With many different devices, assets, and protocols on the rig network, it is critical that Rig Controls are completely segmented. With limited access for patching/updates, security devices must be virtually maintenance free. NOV researched various different devices to accomplish their objective, and eventually decided on unidirectional data transfer devices for remote monitoring, also known as “Data Diodes,” which physically ensure that only one-way communication occurs. After almost a year of testing, NOV reached a mature architecture that connects the rig controls to data diodes from Owl Cyber Defense.

On April 1, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will establish the Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) as a new company-wide framework dedicated to promptly and reliably responding to and reducing cybersecurity risks in products and related services in all divisions and branches.

Several ARC analysts attended ABB Customer World earlier this month in Houston at the George R Brown Convention Center. This year’s event featured a much stronger cybersecurity message, with products and solutions on display as well as a solid track of presentations and panel discussions on cybersecurity that lasted throughout the week. 

On March 18, PAS announced the release of its PAS Cyber Integrity™ 6.3. The new release of the company’s cybersecurity offering builds on the company’s ability to assess and identify risk with the addition of risk analytics, which operates as a continuous mechanism to both identify and quantify risks for multi-vendor OT (Operational Technology) endpoints.

At the recent ARC Industry Forum in Orlando, ARC’s Mark Sen Gupta sat down with Bedrock Automation founder and CEO Albert Rooyakkers. Mr. Rooyakkers discusses Bedrock’s approach to cybersecurity by design in industrial automation systems, as well as new products and applications that were first announced at the ARC Forum.

Fortinet and SecurityWeek are hosting a webinar on Wednesday, March 20th at 1 PM EDT to discuss lessons from real-world incidents that target the OT environment, and the impact of IT/OT convergence on fourth-generation industrial environments.

The recent ARC Forum in Orlando featured a track on smart city and infrastructure applications where we had two experienced end users share their experiences in justifying and implementing cybersecurity programs in both the smart buildings and water and wastewater application segments.

This article further examines how the Security Response Process and the Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) processes achieve more than effective responses, they also help prevent and detect security events. Figure 1 shows an example of a typical PSIRT process. 

The scope of safety and cybersecurity goes well beyond process safety systems alone.  Across the industrial and infrastructure worlds, an increasing number of end users are adopting more sophisticated strategies for risk management.  This drives closer cooperation and convergence between the safety and cybersecurity disciplines.