URL: https://www.controlglobal.com/blogs/unfettered/dont-overlook-the-most-consequential-control-system-cyber-events-of-2020/ Two of the most consequential control system cyber events (attacks) in 2020 were supply chain attacks. The first event was the Chinese installing hardware backdoors in large electric transformers, an incident that prompted Presidential Executive Order (EO) 13920. The hardware backdoors are obvious control system threats. The second event was the Russian SolarWinds […]
Category: Critical Infrastructure
The Chinese hardware backdoors can cause transformer failures through the load tap changers
As I was reviewing my blogs for a paper I was preparing, I found a nuclear power plant incident involving a station auxiliary transformer load tap changer (LTC) failure. Substation transformers have been acknowledged as the Achilles heel of the electric industry. As a result, the 2015 FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act contained a […]
What would Sun Tzu and Louis Pasteur say about today’s industrial cybersecurity?
Have been following the discussions on industrial cybersecurity, convergence, network vs device security, and IT vs OT vs ICS[2]. Some of the points of view differ greatly on what needs to be done. This lack of consensus indicates that something may be wrong with our assumptions and our approach. A disturbing lack progress being […]
SCIDMARK is UP…!!!
After 5 years of research and hard work, Project SCIDMARK†1 is online. Announced back in October 2015 at the ICS Conference in Atlanta, GA, we feel that the current product is ready for use. As we have several thousand cyber-related events and incidents, the initial christening of the product will have only 11. This is […]
Is there a problem with our understanding of the terms IT, OT and ICS when seeking to protect critical infrastructure?
I remember participating in a work group composed of national representatives tasked with coming up with norms for confidence and security building measures (CSBM) for states to follow in cyberspace. This was quite exciting to be a part of at first, but the discussions slowed down when a representative of a cyber-superpower raised the issue of […]
Perhaps we are missing a lesson from Stuxnet?
This summer some of us noted the 10th anniversary of the discovery of Stuxnet. That is when it became known to the public. Since 2010 we have learned that earlier forms of Stuxnet were being developed and tested on the target several years earlier.[1] To commemorate this anniversary several articles and presentations have been published. […]
Perhaps one step backward in building CIP capacity?
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result – Attributed to A. Einstein A recent post titled “Regarding (AA20-049A) Ransomware Impacting Pipeline Operations” on SCADASEC pointed out the FUD promoting aspects of an alert published by The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at […]
New definition – “cyberg”
[Updated 2033 hrs Central: I’ve made a few tweaks to the definition.] I’ve thought of ingenious ways of creating words that are both funny and meaningful. Reason for this way of thinking is the ever-growing number of cyber threats, attacks and vulnerabilities, and how little we (as a society in general) are doing anything about […]
Targeting Control and Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS): new escalation of cyber threats to critical [energy] infrastructure
“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.” – Winston Churchill Introduction Industrial Control and Safety systems play an important part in insuring that the physical processes taking place in a manufacturing plant, power generation facility or other segment of critical infrastructure do […]
Computer Science programs may fall short in contributing to critical infrastructure protection
“There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?” – Advice given to a young man in the 1967 Film, “The Graduate” (1) In the 1967 film, “The Graduate” an older man gives insider advice to a young person struggling to decide on a future career. I was in […]