It’s been nearly two years now since the heinous Triton malware incident was initially publicized. Many specifics were never released for security reasons, but as readers might be aware, a very large petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia observed one day that their safety system—the commonly deployed Triconex product by Schneider Electric—was engaging and shutting down production, yet no threat could be found. They brought in Schneider Electric and then malware experts including FireEye and soon discovered that the culprit was a piece of malware that had infected their system.

To help provide a flavor of the insights and experience that Tripwire makes available, we’re conducting one-on-one interviews with several Tripwire in-house experts. You may have seen some of their bylines in Belden’s industrial blog over the past couple of years, but in this new series we want to provide a more direct glimpse into each expert’s individual industry purview. Each of them will discuss their own personal views on the current state of cyber security in the industrial environment. You’ll learn more about how they have been working with Belden industrial customers to help bolster their network security and optimize their uptime in today’s challenging environment.

Digital attackers are targeting organizations in the energy sector like never before. For example, just a few weeks ago, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report describing a massive Russian hacking campaign to infiltrate America’s critical infrastructure. In a first, the US government publicly blamed Russia’s government for attacks on energy infrastructure.

Like many specialized disciplines, the world of cyber security is filled with technical jargon that can hamper communication. In this blog, we’ll demystify some cyber security best practices and terms, as we focus on an often-overlooked factor in ICS and corporate security known as the “attack surface.” We’ll take an in-depth look at what attack surfaces are, how to keep them safe and how the human element plays a critical role in their security.

If you’re following industrial cyber security trends you know that industrial networks, endpoints and control systems typically have inherent weaknesses that make them insecure and vulnerable to compromise through digital methods. With 5.6 million newly connected devices added per day in 2016 and an estimated 21 billion online by 2020, these current growth trends only increase the potential attack surface within industrial automation and process control environments.