Maintworld 2/2017

CYBERSECURITY
WHEN IT COMES TO AUTOMATION SYSTEMS, THE
GOALS OF CYBERSECURITY AND MAINTENANCE
ARE PRACTICALLY THE SAME: ENSURING ERROR-FREE
PRODUCTION AND SAFETY.
How to Improve Cybersecurity
When considering automation systems
from a cybersecurity standpoint, one
challenge stands out above all: their long
lifecycle. IT systems have a lifecycle
of around five years, whereas automation
systems have an average lifecycle
of around 25 years. What this means in
practice is that even though today’s automation
systems suppliers work on improving
the cybersecurity of their own
systems, it will take up to 25 years for
these built-in security features to permeate
the entire manufacturing industry,
and at that time, some of the security
controls may already be obsolete.
However, it is possible to substantially
improve the cybersecurity of
automation systems, even though some
vulnerabilities might still remain. It is
also important to acknowledge that all
assets are not equally important, and
that the security posture of a system can
be substantially improved by making
good engineering decisions for example
on the architecture and functionality allocation.
It is also recommended to perform a
risk assessment. The purpose of the risk
assessment is to identify the potential
plant vulnerabilities and critical systems
related to the operation. I would not
recommend putting too much effort into
assessing the probability of different
events, but concentrating on the potential
consequences and their acceptance.
I.e. if a potential cause of a cybersecurity
attack utilizing a remote connection
could lead to an extensive equipment
failure or jeopardize employee’s health
or life, a strong argument can be made to
make some changes to remove or minimize
the risk. The risk assessment needs
to be a multi domain task, performed in
co-operation by cybersecurity experts,
process engineers, safety engineers and
maintenance engineers.
Regardless of the outcome of the risk
assessment, here are some recommendations
what should be done.
Consider securing your plant’s safety
automation solutions or safeguards, of
course provided that they are digital.
With these I mean functions intended
for protecting employees, production
equipment and the environment against
accidents or hazards. Where possible,
you should isolate protective automatic
systems or functions from the operative
automation systems. This should also be
a basic rule when designing new control
systems.
The operative automation system
should also be segregated from other
company networks. Isolating your production
environment from the company
network has been considered to be the
best control against cybersecurity attacks.
It is a solid protective measure for
network-based attacks, provided you
know what you are doing and procedures
are in place to systematically support
the isolation. In many cases however,
this kind of isolation only serves to give
a false sense of security as, for example,
production planning and management
often requires real time information
from the production systems for various
business needs. This information
is then transferred using USB memory
sticks or similar media, which in turn are
common vectors for malware infections.
Also, automation suppliers often maintain
remote maintenance connections
to the systems they have supplied, which
means that the system is not actually
isolated.
A better way to protect your system
against cybersecurity attacks is
to connect it to the company network,
and route all the needed connections
through a dedicated access point, allowing
the management and monitoring of
remote connections and ensuring that
existing cybersecurity controls are not
bypassed. Continuous monitoring will
also help you identify remote sessions
from your automation systems vendor
and changes made through these connections
to the system’s configuration.
In other words, monitoring tools can also
be utilized for contract management,
allowing you to monitor the supplier’s
actions, and for configuration management,
allowing you to verify whether
planned changes have actually been implemented.
All in all, those working with automation
systems should deepen their mutual
collaboration. This is especially true for
maintenance and cybersecurity professionals.
Solid cooperation ensures that
all aspects required for safe and stable
production are taken into account. From
early planning stages to decommissioning
and dismantling, modern cybersecurity
must be considered throughout
an automation system’s lifecycle. When
considering digital cybersecurity solutions,
I would recommend checking that
your organization has access to the latest
and most comprehensive know-how in
the cybersecurity industry.
42 maintworld 2/2017