Summer 2010
Malware Found That Attacks Industrial Control Systems
For the first time since we’ve started following control system attacks, this is the first substantiated news we’ve found. It seems that this attack is carried out using a Trojan-Horse “back door” program that checks for an installation of WinCC, an HMI software product sold by Siemens. It is known to spread via USB devices, namely those little memory stick flash drive that we all seem to collect and use.
Microsoft said it suspects that Stuxnet, the name of this malware, has been active at least since June 1, 2010. An antivirus vendor in Belarus called Virus BlokAda said it discovered the malware in June.
Gazing into Automation's Crystal Ball
Reprinted with permission from Food Engineering
www.foodengineeringmag.com
A number of professionals involved in food and beverage automation were asked to channel their inner Alvin Toffler to predict technology’s impact on the food plant of tomorrow. Some of their thoughts:
Today’s consumer electronics is a harbinger of what we’ll see in manufacturing in seven years. Instead of technical training, operators and maintenance will access apps to walk them through machine procedures.
—John Kowal, market development manager, B&R Automation
The State of Industrial Wireless 2010 - a Snapshot to the Future
While looking into the future of automation, there is a growing discussion regarding industrial wireless adoption and it’s benefit to implement.
In April 2009, Apprion and Control Magazine began a series of surveys designed to gain insight into the state of wireless application adoption within the process manufacturing industries. Included are the results based off 1200 industry professionals.
Technical Q&A
Q: I’m having a problem with converting an RSLogix5000 project from version 15.2 to 16.1. During the conversion two errors are reported:
Error: G232_04_TCR Feature not available.
Error: Line 839: Feature not available.
The offending line in the L5K file defines a module for a “1734-232AsC/C”.” The Rockwell knowledgebase has an article “38272 -1734- 232ASC: Failed to instantiate Module Profile. InitExisting Failed. Feature not available.” But I cannot view it as a I do not have a tech connect contract.
A: The 134-232ASC/C module is causing the error. Remove it, do the conversion, and add it back on.
Visit www.controlsoverload.com to view more questions and answers or ask one of your own.
