In April's Control: Remote Access Goes Mainstream. Find out why it's one of the fastest-growing and accepted technologies to hit the process control industries; plus, how an upstate New York brewer saves $230,000 a year with a flow controls upgrade; what's new in SCADA; and the story of Southern States Chemical's new sulphuric acid plant, built with a combination of recycled equipment and the latest in processing technology. Also, don't miss this month's Control Talk, featuring Greg McMillan and Stan Weiner's column "New Paradigms for Lab Control Systems."

Aurora is a reliability gap in the protection of the electric grid (it is a global issue not just North American). It involves opening and closing a circuit breaker or breakers, resulting in an out-of-phase condition that can damage loads including generators and motors.

I met with DOD and have two new definitions to add to the list of confusing terms.  The first is "data center".  DOD is in the process of consolidating their data centers. Consequently, I asked what is a data center.  Apparently any location with a server and a database can be considered a data center.

Privacy, Piracy Host, Mari Frank, interviews Joseph Weiss, Industry expert on control systems and electronic security of control systems Monday, March 26, 8:00-8:30AM Pacific Time, KUCI 88.9 FM in Irvine,

The Smart Grid is dependent on interoperability and is moving toward ubiquitous use of TCP/IP.  Meanwhile, many utilities are removing or not installing TCP/IP connections for transmission to avoid having to meet NERC CIPs. Doesn't this seem inconsistent?

Joe Weiss

Control's March issue is all about road maps. Our cover story "The Control Room of the Future - Smarter Reality" shows readers how to navigate through all the glitz and shiny new tools and applications to get to the best, most practical and functional 21st-century control room for their needs. Then we explore the latest navigational report from those on the search for the asset management Holy Grail of integrated production and maintenance, plus a close-up of how GlaxoSmithKline moved along the path via smart, documenting calibrators. Also, this month's Control Talk, featuring Greg McMillan and Stan Weiner, is entitled, "Going with the Flow." Read it now.

There are a number of issues about Aurora that are confusing including its name, what it does, how to detect it, and what could be vulnerable. As Aurora is still classified as "For Official Use Only", I will not go into any technical details.

The February 2012 ICS-CERT Monthly Monitor has an article on a state government building that had their HVAC hacked.

DOE has issued for public comment- Electricity SubSector Cybersecurity Risk Management Process dated March 2012.

September 2011 DOE issued the first draft of the Electricity SubSector Cybersecurity Risk Management Process document for comments. The document essentially equated IT and ICS.  The only mention of differences between IT and ICS in the new version is the following:

I attended the RSA Conference, BSides Conference, and the German American Business Association (GABA) cyber security meeting in San Francisco the week of February 26th.