The Netherlands-based WIB (Werkgroup voor Instrument Beoordeling) is a 40 member company-strong association of operators from the EU process industry with around 25% in oil and gas. The theme of the 2018 WIB Seminar in The Hauge earlier this year was, ‘safe and secure operation in digital transformation.’ WIB chairman, DSM’s Alex van Delft outlined digital transformation in the process industry. Digital transformation implies a shift from datacenter to the cloud, from silos to ecosystem and from process-driven to data-driven. These beg questions as to the readiness of operators to allow for control in the cloud, for cooperation across the silos and the use of a more open architecture. And then there is the security question.
Erwin Kruschitz (Anapur AG) sees security as a prerequisite for digital transformation. Kruschitz heads up the Namur WG 4.18 work group on automation security. Current process security is a complex process involving patch management, firewalls, authentication and more. Kruschitz advocates a new ‘security by design’ approach leveraging the Namur NE 153 ‘Automation Security 2020 - design, implementation and operation of industrial automation systems.’
ExxonMobil’s Anneke Vemer enumerated some recent cyber attacks on the process industry from Stuxnet (2012) to Trisis/Triton in 2017. The latter, a targeted attack on Triconex SIS controllers, was described in a Schneider presentation at the S4x18 ICS/SCADA conference in January 2018. Vemer went through the many facets of what needs to be done to assure cyber security. There is however no silver bullet!
Aliene van der Veen introduced the DNV GL-led Mecada (metering and calibration data analytics) joint industry project. The idea is to benchmark an operator’s meter population against the same type of meters installed at dozens of other sites worldwide. van der Veen does not envisage a ‘black box,’ but plans to include expert review of the analytics. Meter drift can have a financial impact if an operator is under-measuring and missing revenues. An early warning allows an operator to take the meter out and recalibrate. On the other hand, if no significant errors are found, a meter may be left in operation for an extended period, saving recalibration cost. More from WIB.
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