Laying the Groundwork For Trusted Cyber Secure Ecosystems
CIP Security is evolving into a more robust security framework and adding solutions for device authentication and hardening.
June 7, 2016
Industrial control systems have traditionally set its overall priorities as safety first and production availability next. But what is interesting now is that security, driven by the threat of cyberattacks, has moved forward and needs to be balanced with these first two priorities.
For industry, where in the past cyberattacks have been hard and focus on Stuxnet as the first high-profile example, there are now more damaging attacks coming to light. A cyberattack reported by the German government in December 2014 reported that a mill actually suffered damage because the control systems were compromised such that a blast furnace could not be shutdown, causing physical damage to the site.
“There has been not only an awareness that threats not only can occur but an admission that it’s not a matter of if but when,” Nancy Cam-Winget, distinguished engineer at Cisco Systems, told Design News. “The need for education is more at the forefront and more accepted, where in the past there was more of a tendency to wait.
The timeline for CIP security developments has a focus on software technologies for user authentication and authorization, along with hardening of devices.
(Source: ODVA)