June 3-4, I will be participating in the ICS/SCADA Cybersecurity Symposium in Chicago. My two sessions will address important control system-unique issues not being addressed elsewhere. June 3rd, I will be moderating a first-of-a-kind session bringing together a control system engineer and an OT network cybersecurity researcher to explore the cultural and operational divide between […]
CISA “cyber hygiene” guidance for OT?
CISA that organisation that was created from the retired ICS-CERT and US-CERT came out with “Primary Mitigations to Reduce Cyber Threats to Operational Technology.[1]” In total there are 5 recommended mitigations that are quite peculiar if one remembers it has been 15 years since the announcement of the STUXNET operation. Let us look at each […]
The RSA Cybersecurity Conference is not relevant to control systems- what’s missing is in plain sight
Control system field devices have no cyber security, authentication, or cyber forensics. These devices were orphaned from cybersecurity programs as OT networks became the focus of cybersecurity programs and the RSA Cybersecurity Conference. At RSA, there were numerous discussions about network cybersecurity threats from Russia, China, and Iran, as well as on the latest APTs. […]
New IACS/OT oriented and evidence-based effort underway for improving incident management
Since leaving full time employment in 2022 I am aware that I am fading from the ICS security scene. As a way to remain useful for a while longer I have tried to fill the gap by collaborating with the ISA 99 Committee. Most recently I co-chaired one of the newly created workgroups dedicated to […]
T&D World article on Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) cyber issues
Networked Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) introduce cyber and physical vulnerabilities, and not enough attention is paid to training, design and operation. As a follow-up to my February 14, 2025 Unfettered blog, “Cyber vulnerable battery systems are catching fire and communicate directly to China”, T&D World published the update “How Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks are […]
OT and Engineering are not the same and are creating dangerous conditions
A recent job solicitation from a medium-size water utility seeking engineers included knowledge of associated industrial communications and networking equipment. However, the engineers were not responsible for cybersecurity of those networks and there was no mention of the term OT nor any consideration of with working with the network security organization. Another recent job solicitation […]
Cyber vulnerable battery systems are catching fire and communicate directly to China
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are cyber vulnerable. There have been numerous cases where intentional and/or unintentional control system cyber incidents have caused or contributed to thermal runaway fires. There have been other cases where BESS systems have been cyber-compromised. Yet there appears to be minimal attention being paid to cybersecurity in the design, operation, […]
Zones, Conduits, and What They Mean
Concepts Have you ever been in a meeting where everyone says the same words but you later discover that they were thinking different things? That’s what concerns me about the concept of Zones and Conduits. Security people hear the concept and they think it is related to the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture1 (the so-called “Purdue […]
Will the next administration finally address control system cyber security?
Addressing critical infrastructure (control system) cyber security started with the issuance of PDD 63 by President Bill Clinton in 1998. According to PDD63, the critical infrastructures were to be cyber secure within five years of issuance of the PDD – 2003. Yet control system cyber security still has not been adequately addressed by the intervening […]
Critical infrastructures cannot be secured because network security and engineering won’t work together
There continues to be a gap between the engineering organizations in end-users and control system suppliers responsible for reliability, functionality, and safety on the one hand, and the network security organizations responsible for network security on the other. Control systems are neither just engineering nor network security but a combination of both: modern networking technologies […]