ABB UK has expanded its cyber security offering with the expansion of its industrial cyber security team and the addition of multi-sector expertise to support operators both on site or remotely.
The expanded cybersecurity task force comprises over 20 specialist roles including a cybersecurity lead, a number of specialist consultants, digital security engineers, cyber system design specialists and analysts. They will support operating companies in the oil, gas and petrochemical sector with the protection of their vital industrial control systems.
Through its collaborative operations model, ABB experts from multiple industry sectors working closely with their colleagues in other countries. Together they will offer clients a one-stop shop for cyber security assessment, detection and protection.
Industrial plants are vulnerable to attacks which would not only halt production but could also have a devastating impact on health and safety. As companies develop more interconnected systems to harness data from around the world, and develop technologies that automate complex processes, so do criminals. ABB recommends that all organisations establish a cyber security management system to effectively understand and mitigate cyber risk.
The Health and Safety Executive has recognised the potential safety impact of a cyber-attack, threatening life in the event of a catastrophic incident, and has set out a minimum standard which operators must meet to manage cyber security from a safety perspective.
Ben Dickinson, recently appointed by ABB to lead its UK cyber security team, said: “The task of securing industrial control systems from cyber-attacks brings its own challenges. A cyber breach on a chemical plant for example could allow the attacker to take control of valves, thereby putting lives at risk. Malicious cyber-attacks are not just about stopping something from working, they’re also about causing the maximum disruption possible. In many sectors there are known criminal factions keen to cause problems that could result in serious consequences.
“The Health and Safety Executive has issued operational guidance which calls for a cyber security management system to be introduced, to assess health and safety risk from a cyber perspective and ensure that protective processes exist, controls are documented, and risks are reduced as much as possible. ABB can help with each step of this.”
There are currently several publicly disclosed cyber threat actors that target specifically industrial automation systems, one of which, named Triton/TRISIS, in December 2017, targeted the safety instrumentation system of a petrochemical plant in the Middle East with the specific aim of disabling system safety functions.
Dickinson continued: “Approximately 70% of global companies, in every sector, have been the target of a cyber security attack in the past year, and fewer than half of them have any sort of intrusion detection system employed to look out for these attacks.”