Industrial Automation Control Systems (IACS) Cybersecurity based on IEC 62443 was created to be compatible with agile development methodology. The standard deliberately talks about processes and not phases, such as those in the waterfall model. The processes defined can be met simultaneously and are, most likely, already being followed…
exida explains Blog
- by Jeff Davis
- Thursday, November 08, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
IACS Cybersecurity IEC 62443: Agile Lifecycle and Documentation
- by Dr. William Goble, CFSE
- Monday, October 29, 2018
- Certification
Using SILSafeData to Check Your Failure Data Source
www.SILSafeData.com is a complimentary resource that contains the upper and lower bounds failure rates for many categories of automation equipment, as well as the methodology used by exida to derive the numbers.
Many of you have asked how to…
- by Todd Stauffer
- Thursday, October 25, 2018
- Alarm Management
Bad Actor Knockdown: The “Whac-A-Mole” of Alarm Management?
As discussed in What do Nuisance Alarms, the 80-20 Rule, and Mental Models Have in Common?, there are typically a handful of alarm points (10 to 20) that create the majority of notifications (50-80%) to the operator (referencing the 80-20 rule). These nuisance alarms are affectionately called “bad…
- by Jim Jenkins
- Wednesday, October 17, 2018
- Functional Safety
Does Your Burner Management System Meet Your Tolerable Risk?
My previous blog mentioned the fact that a Burner Management System (BMS) is unique, in that this instrumented layer is the last line of defense and may be the only protection layer in the case of a BPCS failure.
Have you ever performed an analysis to determine…
- by Dave Gunter
- Thursday, October 11, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
Managing Unconfirmed Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities like Supermicro
Unconfirmed vulnerabilities are not usually a big issue, but when one occurs like Supermicro, plant management will ask a simple question: “Do we have an issue or not?”
Having been on the receiving end of this blunt exchange, I realize it can be painful and embarrassing to communicate,…
- by Brad Hitchcock, CFSP
- Monday, October 01, 2018
- Functional Safety
Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment of Collaborative Robotic Systems
The world of collaborative robots, or cobots, is making headway. According to a recent report by the International Federation of Robots (IFR), along with Loup Ventures, global robotics spending will reach $13 billion in 2025. Currently, collaborative robots only make up about 3% of all robot sales. This number…
- by Dr. William Goble, CFSE
- Thursday, September 27, 2018
- Certification
The New Technology in Logic Solvers
I heard about a “safety certified” PLC in the late 1980s at an ISA SP84 standard committee meeting. The “logic solver” (as they later called it) was the focus of attention in the field of functional safety back then. Many engineers even said, “My system is safe because I…
- by Patrick O'Brien
- Tuesday, September 18, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
Cyber Risk Assessments and Security Level Verification: High-Level Risk Assessments (Part 1 of 3)
As the number, scale, and connectivity of industrial automation systems continues to grow, it becomes increasingly crucial to fundamentally understand, evaluate, and manage cybersecurity risks. The objective of an effective cybersecurity management program should be to maintain the industrial automation system consistent with corporate risk criteria.
Ownership for industrial…
- by Steve Gandy, CFSP
- Thursday, September 13, 2018
- Functional Safety
Is It Possible to Extend Proof Test Intervals?
I am often asked whether extending proof test intervals will be a problem.
This is a tricky question. The design and engineering SIL calculations for the Safety Instrumented Functions (SIFs) are taking credit for a specific proof test interval with a defined level of coverage, as defined within the…
- by Chris O'Brien, CFSE
- Friday, September 07, 2018
- Functional Safety
Functional Safety Assessment of Valve Assemblies (Part 3)
In Part 1, we covered the emerging trends in the valve assembly market, how these trends relate to IEC 61511 requirements, and the anatomy of final elements. In Part 2, we discussed the need to show requirements traceability down through the design of the safety instrumented function…
- by Dr. William Goble, CFSE
- Thursday, August 30, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
How Much Cybersecurity Do I Need?
During an IACS cybersecurity risk analysis, each zone of a network is given a target security level. The levels are one to four, with one being the least amount of protection and four giving the most protection. For each zone we ask, “How much cybersecurity protection do we…
- by Dave Gunter
- Friday, August 24, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
Managing Risk: How Cybersecurity Differs for Facility Managers
Operations and facility managers have a level of responsibility that requires a great deal of judgment, technical understanding, and the ability to make the right call when managing risk.
Safe, secure, and profitable plant operations are the cornerstones of how a plant manager is judged. The plant manager relies…
- by Patrick O'Brien
- Thursday, August 16, 2018
- Industrial Cybersecurity
An Integrator’s Guide to Managing the Cybersecurity Risks of Remote Access
Last week I attended the ISA Water/Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference was attended by equipment manufacturers and municipalities, but system integrators composed the largest group. The technical sessions mainly discussed new opportunities for implementing the industrial internet of things (IoT) and cybersecurity…
- by Todd Stauffer
- Thursday, August 09, 2018
- Alarm Management
Alarm Shelving - Relieve the Symptoms of Nuisance Alarms and Create a Peaceful Control Room
In an ideal world, every alarm in a process control system would indicate a malfunction or abnormal condition that required operator action. In the real world, alarms that are irrelevant or annunciate excessively—otherwise known as nuisance alarms—can pop up occasionally to quite frequently. They pose a risk to the…
- by John Yozallinas, CFSE
- Thursday, August 02, 2018
- Certification
Do you know your Site Safety Index?
There’s a lot that exida does behind the scenes to advance the industry and benefit you. We try to make sense of data that we collect and put it to good use. One thing we found is that human activities play a role in functional safety, often causing the intended safety performance…