Hackers. That’s the headline for this recent article on possible vulnerabilities in the data communications to off-shore oil platforms. It cites the fairly recent case of an IT contractor who was charged with sabotaging offshore oil rig computer systems. “Prosecutors say the contractor hacked into a shore-to-rig communications network that, among other functions, detected oil leaks.” There are many, many offshore data communication systems out there that use OPC as a key part of their architecture.
Folks might be tempted to call articles like this sensationalism or fear mongering, but industrial professionals know the truth is all too real. Too many systems still rely on security-by-obscurity or their firewall as their sole line of defense.
“Although the newest oil rigs, which cost upward of $1 billion apiece, might be loaded with cutting-edge robotics technology, the software that controls a rig’s basic functions is anything but. Most rely on the decades-old supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software, written in an era when the “open source” tag was more important than security, said Jeff Vail, a former counterterrorism and intelligence analyst with the U.S. Interior Department. “It’s underappreciated how vulnerable some of these systems are,” he said. “It is possible, if you really understood them, to cause catastrophic damage by causing safety systems to fail.”
Although the safety of these systems is paramount, another important factor to consider is the economic impacts and lost production costs if these communication systems are compromised. There are many things that can be done to make these systems more secure. This article Securing Integrated Scada Systems against cyber attacks mentions some of them: Network design, firewalls, Intrusion detection, and encrypted networks. So what can be done for OPC communications in particular? First is a good OPC network design. The whitepaper Creating Secure OPC Architectures walks through some secure configuration options. Of course using OPC security aware products such as OPC Tunneller and the OPC Security Gateway brings huge security benefits to the communication layer.
Are your OPC communicates secure? If you’re not sure, maybe a network assessment is in order. I’m sure there is a trusted OPC vendor you can call to arrange one J
