Incident management has become a top priority for industrial cybersecurity professionals. Given the sophistication of modern attacks, it would be naïve to trust defenses to block all intrusions.

The primary objective in protecting ICS environments is to block attacks, i.e., make sure they “never happen.” For those you fail to prevent, minimizing the impact of the compromise is imperative. This requires a proven strategy for rapidly detecting and isolating intrusions and then remediating and restoring operations.

To improve China’s global competitiveness, the government launched national initiatives such as “Made in China 2025.” Along with enabling technology approaches such as smart manufacturing and IIoT, service-oriented manufacturing (SOM) has emerged as another vital pillar of the country’s Made in China 2025 initiative, which aims to increase the overall production efficiency and quality of Chinese manufacturing to be able to produce higher value products.

ARC Advisory Group analysts and others have long discussed the lack of qualified automation candidates in the job market, the exodus of expertise due to retirement, and the increasing diversity of technology knowledge needed.  People discuss the cultural challenges of onboarding a generation of Millennial’s and how companies must adapt to different expectations about a career.  The press is awash with articles about the lack of students graduating with STEM degrees. So, what can industry do?

A May 2016 ARC Insight, Defining the Automation Profession, described that challenge in terms of the competencies and experience required for success. That Insight also included observations on how these competencies are evolving in the face of changing technology and how competency descriptions are necessary due to different perceptions and the lack of common definitions and expectations.

ABB recently briefed ARC on its Operator Training Simulator capability, including a new "Process Power Simulator" that can be used for operator training, control system testing, and optimizing the operation of a process power grid. ABB is well known as a leading supplier to power plants and electrical transmission and distribution systems around the world. With this new product, the company is providing a valuable tool for the process power systems found in large manufacturing plants that generate much of their own electric power.