OT/ICS Security and Resilience – Humans, Basics, and Use Cases

Last week, WaterISAC shared a use case about the recent plan of the East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District to upgrade its PLCs, RTUs, radios, SCADA system—and cybersecurity—in its water treatment system. That post was the first in a series titled “Cybersecurity from above: A mini-series” by Jim Montague, executive editor of Control. Jim takes an opportunity to publish a series of cybersecurity reminders, most notably highlighting how the most effective protections and responses have been remarkably consistent over the years, and can even serve as the foundation for new cybersecurity solutions. Jim continues this series with posts related to the human side of cyber, a reminder about mastering the basics, and another use case of a water/wastewater system SCADA upgrade. Follow along at Control Global:

• Overcoming (human) inertia for cybersecurity – Two experts at system integrator Maverick Technologies show how to motivate individuals and organizations to adopt and practice cybersecurity tools and skills. One suggestion is to approach cybersecurity with the same methodology and mindset used for 70 years to deliver power, water, compressed air or other services on the plant floor.
• Simplify cybersecurity with publish-subscribe protocol – In another use case of a water/wastewater treatment plant SCADA system upgrade, Michigan-based Waterford Township (Waterford Township’s Dept. of Public Works (DPW)) is upgrading its water/wastewater controls and SCADA system with MQTT publish-subscribe protocol running on Opto 22’s groov EPIC controllers.
• Cybersecurity staples bear repeating – Many best practices for cybersecurity may be familiar, but continual reminders are needed to make them effective—and enable new ones to be added later.