Tag Archives: SCADA

Why You Should Support CS2AI

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What is Control Systems Cyber Security Association International (CS2AI.org)?

The mission of the Control Systems Cyber Security Association, Inc. (CS2AI) is to promote and advance cyber security education, research, and practice to protect critical infrastructure and ensure the safety and reliability of our nation’s control systems.

What does that mean? It means we are here to help you understand how to keep your control system safe from hackers, malware, and other threats. We want to ensure you know what to look for in a good cybersecurity program and how to find it.

We also want to ensure you have access to the best resources available to help you stay up-to-date on current trends and technologies.

Why does MSI support it?

Because we believe in its mission. We believe in making sure everyone has access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their own cybersecurity programs, especially when it comes to ICS.

We believe in helping people learn more about cybersecurity so they can take steps toward protecting themselves and their organizations.

We believe in supporting those who share our passion for improving the world through technology. CS2AI supports the core mission of MSI – making the online world a safer place for all of us.

How do I get involved?

It’s simple – click here to learn more about joining and the benefits of supporting the ongoing efforts to improve global cyber security.

Why Emulate a PLC with a Raspberry Pi

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One of the most powerful uses of emulating a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) field device with a Raspberry Pi is that it provides an affordable and easily obtained platform for prototyping, performing ladder logic testing, and researching various industrial control systems and cybersecurity concepts.

Raspberry Pis are Affordable

Raspberry Pi models 3 and 4 are significantly more affordable than real PLCs. A typical PLC can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The Raspberry Pi costs around $35-50 depending on your model choice. This makes them very accessible to hobbyists, students, researchers, developers, and anyone else who wants to work with the basics of industrial control systems. The low cost makes them ideal candidates to emulate a PLC in many scenarios.

Raspberry Pis are Easily Obtainable

PLCs can be quite difficult to come by, especially if you want one without any pre-existing software installed. Many manufacturers will not sell their products to third parties unless they have some kind of existing relationship. If you don’t already know someone at the manufacturer then you may need to pay a hefty upcharge. Additionally, purchasing the addons for power supplies, specific programming software, and such can quickly turn into a slog of paperwork and supporting tasks. The lead time and delivery times can take weeks to months.

The Raspberry Pi, on the other hand, can be purchased at many big-box electronics or computer stores, directly from many providers, or even delivered to your door from Amazon and other online sources. It uses a common USB power supply and can be configured and programmed using open source tools available online. Lead time is a couple of days to a few hours, letting you stay focused on your work.

The OpenPLC Project

The OpenPLC Project is a stable, well-documented toolkit for emulating basic PLC operations on the Pi. It has been used successfully to simulate a variety of different types of PLCs and includes support for ladder logic and other common PLC functions. You can find the programming reference and review the available capabilities here.

You can get OpenPLC up and running on a Pi in less than 30 minutes. In our testing, we were able to begin using the emulated PLC in our lab within an hour!

Going The Extra Mile With SCADABR

SCADABR is an open-source supervisory control and data acquisition software package designed to allow you to create interactive screens or human-machine interfaces (HMI) for your automation projects. It provides tools for creating graphical user interface widgets, event handlers, timers, and dialogs. With its ability to communicate with multiple controllers (including OpenPLC), ScadaBR is an ideal companion for the OpenPLC Runtime and Editor.

Using a Pi, OpenPLC, and SCADABR together, can get you a very powerful and useful PLC platform up and running for under $100 and in less than a few hours. Once implemented, you can use the platform to learn about industrial controls systems, ladder logic, PLC programming, and operations. You can also do basic ladder logic research and testing, and even prototyping for future real-world PLC deployments. Cybersecurity folks also have a very capable platform for learning about industrial control security requirements, performing vulnerability research, reverse engineering, or practicing their assessment skills in a safe environment.

While you might not get the full power of a true PLC (there are some limitations to Pi’s capabilities), you will likely get more than you expect. If you have an interest in or a need for some basic industrial control systems capabilities, this is a great place to start.

 

 

ICS/SCADA Security Symposium 2014 Announced

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For those of you who were wondering about our yearly event, the 4th annual ICS/SCADA Security Symposium has been announced!

The date will be Thursday, December 11, 2014 and the entire event will be virtual! Yes, that’s right, no travel & no scheduling people to cover the control room. YOU can learn from right there! 

To learn more about the event, the schedule and to register, click here!

Save The Date: 2014 ICS/SCADA Security Symposium Dec. 11

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This year’s ICS/SCADA Security Symposium will be held on Thursday, December 11, 2014. This year’s event will be a little different, in that we are opening it up to any organizations who are asset owners or manufacturers of ICS/SCADA components. That includes utilities, manufacturing companies, pharma, etc. If you are interested in ICS security, you can sign up for the event.

This year’s event will also be virtual. It will be a series of Webinars held on the same day in 45 minute blocks, with time for follow-on questions. We will also hold a Twitter Q&A Hour from 1pm – 2pm Eastern, and we will attempt to make all speakers available for the Q&A!

In addition, we plan to stand up a supporting website for the event, and release a number of materials, including podcasts, interviews and other surprises the day of the event!

We will be tracking attendance in the webinars and providing notes of attestation for attendees for the purpose of CPE credits. We hope this new format will allow folks who wanted to attend in the past, but either couldn’t make the physical trip to Columbus or couldn’t leave their positions to attend training the ability to join us.

More details, including speakers and topics, as well as schedules, hashtags and other info will be released shortly. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you on 12/11/14!

Co-Op & Municipal Utilities Get Discounts in July

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Attention Co-Op & Municipal utilities — MSI is offering discounts to your organizations on professional services (policy/process, assessments, pen-testing, etc.), lab services (device & AMR/AMI assessments, threat assessments, etc.) and HoneyPoint Security Server for the month of July. Book the business before July 31’st and have the work/implementation completed before December 31st of 2014 and you receive a discount up to 30% off!

Do you need pen-testing against your business network? Need web app assessments on billing or payment systems? Have a call for risk assessments, smart grid device testing or fraud testing against your meters and field gear? All of this and more qualifies!

Check out our ICS/SCADA specific services by clicking here!

Give Allan Bergen a call today at 513-300-0194 to learn more about our program. We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication that Co-op and Municipal utility teams do, and we look forward to working with you! 

Brent Huston to Lead ICS/SCADA Honeypot Webinar with SANS

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Our Founder and CEO, Brent Huston (@lbhuston) will be leading a SANS webinar on ICS/SCADA honeypots. The webinar is scheduled for November, 25th, 2013 and you can find more information and register by visiting this page.

The webinar will cover when honeypots are and are not useful, basic deployment strategies and insights into using them for detection in field deployments and control environments. 

Check it out, tune in and give Brent a shout out on Twitter. Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy the webinar.

Thanks for Making the 3rd Mid-West ICS/SCADA Security Symposium a Success

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Thanks to the attendees and speakers who participated yesterday in the 3rd Annual ICS/SCADA Security Symposium. It was another great event and once again, the center of the value was in the interactions of the audience with the speakers and each other. It’s great to hear asset owners discuss what is working, what is challenging and what is critical in their minds.

Thanks again to those who attended and contributed to making this event such a wonderful thing again this year. We appreciate it and we can’t wait until next year to do it all again.

Thank YOU!

SANS ICS Summit & Training in Singapore

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SANS Asia Pacific ICS Summit and Training 2013 – Singapore

If you have any responsibility for security of control systems – policy, engineering, governance or operations you won’t want to miss the Asia Pacific ICS Security Summit taking place 2-8 December 2013 where you will:

Learn all about the new Global ICS Professional Security Certification

Gain the most current information regarding Industrial Control System threats and learn how to best prepare to defend against them

Hear what works and what does not from peer organizations. 

Network with top individuals in the field of Industrial Control Systems security and return from the Summit with solutions you can immediately put to use in your organization. 

Listen to 15+ speakers from a variety of companies who will cover exceptional content throughout the two-day Summit.

Earn CPE credits for the summit and course you attend

 

ICS410: ICS Cyber Security Essentials, (Brand New course) – 4-8 December taught by SANS Faculty Fellow Dr. Eric Cole will provide a standardized foundational set of skills, knowledge and abilities for Industrial Cyber Security professionals. This course is designed to ensure that the workforce involved in supporting and defending Industrial Control Systems is trained to perform work in a manner that will keep the operational environment safe, secure and resilient against current and emerging cyber threats.

Agenda highlights for the summit include:

A Community Approach to Securing the Cyberspace to Enhance National Resilience

The Good, Bad and the Ugly: Certification of People, Processes and Devices 

SCADA Security Assessment Methodology: The Malaysia Experience  

The State of Critical Control System Security in Japan 

Smart Security : Strengthening Information Protection in Your ICS

 

To learn more about the Summit and Training, or register now and save 5% on your registration with code SANSICS_MSI5, please visit: http://www.sans.org/info/142537


Save The Date: Midwest ICS/SCADA Security Symposium 2013

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Just a quick announcement that the 3rd annual Midwest ICS/SCADA Security Symposium date has been announced. We will be holding the event on November 14th, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio.

It is a single track, single day event which is highly focused on peer to peer interaction between asset owners, utilities, manufacturers and other interested parties. The attendees usually span the various types of ICS asset holders from water, power, natural gas, chemical, automated manufacturing and other critical infrastructures. The focus is on real world threats, changing regulatory guidance, what controls work and work less, scenarios and tactics that have helped improve security and overall changes in protection strategies in the last 12 months.

The conversations are often candid, to the point and the open forum leads to passionate and real world discussions.

All attendees are vetted to ensure confidentiality and maintain focus on real content minus vendor sales pitches. The cost to attend is FREE and coffee, snacks and lunch is provided.

To learn more about the event or to qualify for an invitation, please drop us a line via email (info A T microsolved D O T com) or via aTwitter (@lbhuston or @microsolved). If you have attended or qualified in the past for the event, your invitation will be forthcoming shortly.

Speaker selection is now underway, so watch this blog for the agenda in the near future.