Building Cybersecurity Robustness in Pipeline Operations Podcast

Podcast: Emerson Automation Experts (LS 24 · TOP 10% what is this?)
Episode: Building Cybersecurity Robustness in Pipeline Operations Podcast
Pub date: 2024-07-25

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Manufacturers and producers across all industries know the challenges in keeping their operations cyber-secure. Industries such as pipeline transportation and electrical & gas distribution networks face additional challenges in the wide geographic spread of their operations and the need for reliance on public communications networks.

In this podcast, I’m joined by Emerson cybersecurity expert Steve Hill to discuss these additional challenges and ways the companies in these industries, suppliers, and federal regulators are collaborating to develop and implement best practices for strong cyber resiliency.

Give the podcast a listen and visit the SCADA Solutions & Software for Energy Logistics on Emerson.com and the AspenTech Digital Grid Management page for methods and solutions to improve your cybersecurity defenses and ongoing programs.
Transcript
Jim: Hi, everyone. This is Jim Cahill with another "Emerson Automation Experts" podcast. Pipelines cover a wide geographic area and require continuous monitoring for safe, efficient, and reliable operations. Today, I'm joined by Steve Hill to discuss the challenges pipeline operators face in keeping their pipeline networks cybersecure. Welcome to the podcast, Steve.

Steve: Thanks, Jim. Pleasure to be here.

Jim: Well, it's great to have you. I guess, let's get started by asking you to share your background and path to your current role here with us at Emerson.

Steve: Thanks, yeah. I've been in the automation and SCADA industry for about 40 years, started on the hardware design and communications that then moved over to software. And it's nearly 20 years I've been with Emerson. I joined as part of the Bristol Babcock acquisition. My main focus now is working in wide-area SCADA as the director of SCADA Solutions for Emerson, and most of that's working in the oil and gas industry, working with Emerson sales and the engineering teams and our customers as they design systems and products for the industry.

And also, alongside that, for the last few years, I've been collaborating with CISA. That's the U.S. government Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as part of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative.

Jim: Okay. That's a nice, varied background. That's really good for our discussion. So, what exactly do you mean by wide-area SCADA?

Steve: That's a great question. There's a SCADA system where the software is monitoring equipment across a very wide area. It might be a very large geographic area, like a pipeline or gas, or water distribution network, or perhaps a well field. I mean, some of the systems, for example, I was speaking to a customer last week who is monitoring an entire pipeline across Peru, and yet, their control centers are actually in Mexico. So, to do that kind of thing, the equipment is usually connected via public networks. You know, private networks don't extend that far, and even the control centers may be widely distributed.

And as part of that, compared to in-plant control, there's an assumption that your communications are clearly not gonna be 100% perfect. You're gonna lose communications either momentarily, like with cellular networks, and when, for example, like we've got in Texas this week,

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