No matter where your organization is on the path of adopting industrial Ethernet, it is likely that unmanaged switches play a role in directing traffic on your network. Perhaps your team waited for the early adopters of Ethernet to iron the kinks out or you recently invested in your first system because of supplier or management demands.

This year, the Belden Industrial Ethernet Infrastructure Design Seminar is being held in Houston and therefore a number of the sessions are focusing on applications for the oil and gas sector. I had the privilege of attending Scott Howard’s session on cyber security. In it, he reviewed the primary goals of cyber security measures in industrial networks:

The age of malware specifically targeting industrial control systems (ICS) began in 2010 when Stuxnet was revealed to be disrupting operations at one of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Since that shock, we have seen advanced malware, such as Flame and Duqu target energy companies for espionage purposes. We have also witnessed the unsophisticated, but highly effective, Shamoon malware massively infiltrate Saudi Aramco.

“Engineers not specializing in cyber security often throw their hands up at security, it’s not what they do,” says Pat Differ, Director of Sales at Securicon LLC, a consulting firm specializing in cyber security services and solutions for critical infrastructure industries. “The result is they may end up relying heavily on IT-oriented or recommended solutions that are not meant for industrial applications.”

In the last several years, many industrial-based businesses – such as food and beverage, oil and gas, power utilities, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and others – have focused on improving their financial standing by investing in sensor-laden automated systems that maximize productivity and streamline production.