Industrial Control System Security

As digital industrial control systems (ICS) become increasingly interconnected both with each other and with enterprise information technology infrastructures, the risks of unauthorized access to and manipulation of these systems become unacceptably high. Because ICS are frequently central to critical infrastructure systems, such as electricity distribution, oil and gas production, and transportation systems, federal regulators have begun mandating cyber security requirements for them. For example, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has mandated eight Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards for electricity distributors. Cyber security standards for ICS are still in the early stages of development, but there are publications to guide security and risk professionals in both developing such standards and implementing ICS cyber security controls in the interim.