Our First Publication
The Need to Change the Paradigm of Control System Cyber Security – Monitor Process Sensors
Authored by: Joe Weiss, PE, CISM, CRISC, Applied Control Solutions, LLC Rob Stephens, PhD, JDS Energy and Mining Nadine Miller, ME, MBA, JDS Energy and Mining
The Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group included the publication authored by Joe Weiss’, PE, CISM, CRISC, Applied Control Solutions, LLC Rob Stephens’, Ph.D., JDS Energy and Mining Nadine Miller’s, ME, MBA, JDS Energy, and Mining, titled “The Need to Change the Paradigm of Control System Cyber Security – Monitor Process Sensors,” in their Quarterly Newsletter: ICSJWG Expanding the Community, September 2021.
Due to frequently and often successful attacks on critical infrastructure networks, a need has been identified for improved protection control systems and the processes they monitor and control. The President’s Industrial Control System Cybersecurity (ICS) Initiative was announced on July 28, 2021, to implement a system and technology that provides threat visibility, indicators, detections, and warmings. However, securing networks alone is inadequate without verifying the process sensor measurement integrity to provide predictive maintenance, process integrity, and validity of sensor input for cyber security. The Israel Water Authority recognized the inadequacy of making cyber control systems only about the data, not the process. In doing so, The Israel Water Authority acknowledged the need for process sensor monitoring to be incorporated into the overall control system cyber security program, complementing the network monitoring approaches. The paper calls for the US government, insurance companies, credit rating agencies, among other actors, to recognize the knowledge and implementation gap in the security of the field control system equipment that keeps our lights on and water flowing.
