By now, we all have some idea of what IT or Information Technology is comprised of. It’s pervasive in our everyday lives, and most of us – either consciously, or subconsciously – utilize it for a multitude of things every day. Whether it’s used to perform online banking via a personal cell phone, or to cast your favorite playlist on a smart device, we’re utilizing components of the IT systems the world runs on today. But what exactly is OT? OT, or Operational Technology, is defined as technology that deals with processes, instruments, and infrastructure that interface with the physical world ..read more

Cybersecurity is a never-ending battle; a system cannot be 100% secure. We must keep adding layers and updating our systems to make it increasingly difficult for others to gain access and to keep up with the ever-changing threat landscape.  Layers we can include can be improving policies, splitting your network into segments, using complex passwords, adding firewalls, etc.  The game of Pac-Man can provide a great analogy to defense in depth. In Pac-Man you are in control of a little yellow circle and have to eat smaller yellow circles and fruit while keeping away from ghost in a big ..read more

Figure 1: Arcade Game Timeline What parallels can be drawn from the golden age of arcade games to identify modern threats and risks in Operational Technology?  Just like Industry 4.0 has brought new life and technology into our industry; the golden age brought new life to entertainment. The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, creative and technological development and cultural influence throughout the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Made possible by new computing technology with greater power and lower costs, arcade video games revolutionized the entertainment ..read more

What does a quality PLC program consist of? Is it all about documentation? Does it need to be easy to interpret, modify, or troubleshoot? A combination of these things? This is part one of an ongoing series discussing the benefits of the Top 20 Secure PLC Coding Practices as applied to ICS/OT Cybersecurity in cyber-physical engineering. As PLC programmers, we use a combination of tools to create a program. Typically, we start with a narrative and equipment specifications or drawings. Depending on the complexity of the program, there may be flow charts, discussions, an endless string ..read more

Figure 1 : Industrial Revolution Timeline [1] . Created with Lucidchart. Industry 4.0 has been a common buzzword heard in tradeshows, blogs, and presentations over the past few years. But what does it mean and what are its implications for control systems? Industry as we know it has gone through four major revolutions over its lifetime (Figure 1). This transformation resulted in a shift from operating plants with steam and simple mechanical systems to distributed control systems with comprehensive data collection within high tech facilities. Industry 1.0 is what is commonly referred to as The ..read more

Recent and ongoing global conflicts have led to a significant increase in cyber threat activity. Here are three quick system checks you can do today. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have started releasing alerts. CISA highly recommends that all CI organizations review their cyber posture to reduce their attack surface area. As a starting point, ICI Electrical Engineering recommends the following;  Check the status of backups for relevant control and SCADA systems, including historian ..read more

Have you ever thought “What would I do if my PLC processor stopped working”? If so, was your answer “I will just pull the cold standby off of the shelf” or “the hot standby will take care of it!”? Choosing the right option for your facility depends on impact of the downtime and also the budget you may have available. If you are operating a water system, you should consider questions such as: How long will your reservoirs take to drain? Are you able to run/shut down your facilities in manual control or is the PLC required for these operations? Are a couple days of no operation a big deal? This ..read more

We recently modernized a lift station’s control system from having its primary controller being electromechanical relays (connected to floats) to a Schneider Electric M340 PLC. This lift station is operated by a single pump and an across-the-line starter. The relay controls have served the operators well in terms of reliability. However, the aging infrastructure was not consistent with the overall digitization elsewhere in the wastewater network. This upgrade has allowed the operators to have more refined monitoring and control of this station as well as view their process data on their existi ..read more

Cloud SCADA One of our current projects is upgrading a client’s SCADA computer. This computer had reached the end of its lifecycle and was beginning to be unreliable and extremely slow. Although the project started with the desire to replace this computer with new on-premises hardware, we quickly reevaluated this option with the customer due to ongoing supply chain issues that originated from the worldwide chip shortages. In Industrial Control Systems (also called Operational Technology or OT), we often see computers being used until they fail, unliked in IT where they are replaced every 3 to ..read more

Modernization of Operator Interfaces Modernization can have a big impact on plant operation. Recently ICI modernized a water treatment facility from an antiquated Klockner-Moeller MCC and Automation Direct PLC to a Schneider Square D MCC and a modern control panel with Schneider M580 & Magelis HMI. This facility has come a long way in terms of operational capabilities as they transitioned from using analog displays and indication lights (Figure 1) to a full-fledged HMI. The new MCC, and new control panel can be seen in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Figure 1: Pre-upgrade WTP Electrical and Control ..read more