ISA TR 84

ISA-TR84.00.09-2023 Cybersecurity related to the Functional Safety Lifecycle-Draft published

The ISA-TR84.00.09-2023 Part 1 (Draft) technical report is ready for review and comments. You can download the draft isa-tr84.00.09 pdf and if you have any comments, you can submit them to the ISA committee, if the committee approves, it will be incorporated into the next draft or published as the final report after all approved changes, comments have been incorporated. What is ISA TR 84? ISA is the International …

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SCADA Security Certification

SCADA Security Certification

This short guide will explain all aspects of SCADA Security Certification. But first we will understand what is a SCADA. What is SCADA? SCADA is short for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System. These systems are used in a wide variety of industries from electrical grids (electrical substation SCADA) to pipeline monitoring systems. A typical SCADA consists of remote terminal units (RTUs), and/or PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and/or IED …

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IEC 62443 training

IEC 62443 Training

This brief guide will explain how to take IEC 62443 training at a much lower cost today than in earlier years. Note: The most cost effective and easiest way to learn all IEC 62443 essentials is to take the Abhisam Certified Industrial Cybersecurity Professional training course. This fully self-paced, online course consisting of text, voice over, videos, animations, assessments and exercises, can be taken anytime from anywhere via any …

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IEC 62443 guide

IEC 62443 Guide

Here’s a guide to IEC 62443. After going through this (somewhat short) IEC 62443 guide, you will understand how it helps you secure your Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS for short) against cyber threats. Let us understand more about it, why it was developed and where it can be used. What is IEC 62443? IEC 62443 is not a single document, but a set of standards, practices and …

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IEC 62443 Foundational Requirements

IEC 62443 Foundational Requirements

If you have been working in the field of Industrial Control Systems cyber security (ICS security) or in the broader Operational Technology cybersecurity domain (OT security) then you may have heard of the standard ANSI/ISA/IEC 62443, referred to these days as simply IEC 62443. This standard has certain Foundational Requirements that are important and these are explained in short here. This short guide will explain these IEC 62443  Foundational …

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IEC 61511 and IEC 61508

What is the difference between IEC 61511 and IEC 61508?

In the next few minutes of reading this you will understand the difference between IEC 61511 and IEC 61508. What is IEC 61511? IEC 61511 is the process industry standard for Functional Safety and Safety Instrumented Systems. This standard has been developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission and is used globally. Process industries are those industries that handle bulk materials (rather than discrete parts) and include the Oil & …

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log4j

Log4j vulnerability and ICS security

As you may already be aware, a new critical remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) affecting Apache Log4j software library versions 2.0-beta9 to 2.14.1 has been discovered. What is the Log4j vulnerability? Log4j is used in many websites,  consumer and enterprise services and  applications—as well as in operational technology products, which includes even Industrial Control Systems such as DCS, SIS, PLC, SCADA, Process Historians and similar hosts and controllers. For …

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What is an SRS?

What is an SRS (Safety Requirement Specification)? Why is it important?

What is a Safety Requirement Specification? (SRS for short)? A Safety Requirement Specification is one of the most important documents in any Safety Instrumented Systems project. This document forms the design basis of the Safety Instrumented System and has the detailed specifications of every Safety Instrumented Function (SIF) which comprises the SIS. When is the document made? If you refer to the Safety Lifecycle according to IEC 61511 (ISA …

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Industrial Cybersecurity Trends | What to expect from ICS security in 2021 and beyond?

Abhisam recently published a report on the State of Industrial Cybersecurity in the year 2020 and the road ahead in 2021. The report was compiled by contributions from several different experts from various industry segments, who are individually having at least 25 years of experience in their own domains as well as having  deep knowledge about Industrial Cybersecurity. To understand the basics, please see this basic Industrial Cybersecurity guide …

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