Wireless location application

Location applications are one of the hot areas in automation. Security is a major driver--knowing where people and assets are located in the event of an event at a plant. There are many other uses that make these applications attractive. Apprion announced the release of ION Location Application, IONite Personnel Tag and IONite Asset Tag. ION Location enables a suite of applications to address security, safety and environmental regulations and improve overall safety, productivity, asset utilization and performance. ION Location supports leading real-time locating technology systems including Wi-Fi, UWB and satellite in a single, comprehensive network. The location information from all of these systems is displayed on a single dashboard with integrated CAD drawings, maps and satellite photographs of a site to visually navigate the entire facility from a desktop while tracking the location and condition of people and key assets from a highly accurate spatial and visual perspective.

At the press conference series at the ARC Forum in Orlando.

Cybersecurity Responsibility

Jim Cahill notes a post on Digital Bond blog where Dale Peterson analyzes Emerson's Ovation for security. Jim consults his experts (hence, Emerson Process Experts blog title) and provides a balanced look at security.

I had a brief exchange with Peterson a month or two ago where he was ripping magazines a little. In one response, he was critical of us in the media for not ripping suppliers--for instance, we should have been publicly chastising Siemens for permitting Stuxnet. I like Jim's response in general about the need for defense in depth and the fact that threats change on a daily basis. Certainly in a perfect world suppliers would foresee all possible threats and provide a bulwark agains them. But, it's not a perfect world. Due diligence is probably the best we can ask.

Stuxnet Security raise ugly head again

I see via this article in Computerworld that Siemens has identified up to 14 locations of Stuxnet penetration. I'll see if I can run down more information tomorrow. Just because this has been out of the headlines that doesn't mean the threat is gone. Continue to review, upgrade and manage all your security policies and technologies.

Byres Updates Stuxnet Security on SCADA

Eric Byres has updated his recommendations for security of SCADA systems from the Stuxnet worm as a result of the Microsoft patch. His revised white paper “Siemens PCS7 WinCC Malware” is available for download by all Tofinosecurity.com members now. (If you are not a member, you can become one by signing up. There is no charge and Byres says he's created a very complete program to ensure member privacy.) He has also started a security blog for those who would like to keep up with his latest thinking on security topics.

Microsoft Plans Fix

According to this article in Computerworld over the weekend, Microsoft plans to release a fix today for the shortcut hole that led to the problems with the Stuxnet worm and Siemens HMI/SCADA.