Harmonising engineering and ICT to protect against a catastrophic cyberattack
The mining and minerals sector is yet to develop a secure, vigilant and resilient strategy to protect against the growing risk of a catastrophic cyberattack.
Frikkie Eloff, Regional Manager of First Technology Group’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga operations, says that top of the agenda is the need to harmonise existing cybersecurity capacities with operational divisions that are also both continuously available and adequately equipped with bespoke cutting-edge technical solutions.
“Bridging the divide between engineering and information and communications technology (ICT) is a complex undertaking. It entails having a sound understanding of both disciplines and access to sophisticated sector-specific cybersecurity skills, capabilities and experience,” Eloff says.
Notably, the company harnesses the significant capabilities of its global principal, First Technology Group, which is a leading provider of ICT technologies, including sophisticated cybersecurity solutions, to companies operating in many industrial sectors.
Its customers include top international mining houses which continue to increase their investment into cybersecurity.
According to the Global Information Security Survey, more than 50% of the large international mining companies had elevated their spending on cybersecurity during 2016 and 2017.
This trend is expected to continue as more industry participants move into the interconnected digital era to boost productivity and lower input costs.
Meanwhile, many South African mining houses have also embarked on an automation drive to significantly bolster health and safety levels, making them just as vulnerable as their international counterparts to catastrophic attack.
However, the global mining sector still lags behind many other industries in terms of cybersecurity. This is evidenced by the very low investments made into the field despite the many risks that abound throughout the entire mining value chain.
These threats span the prospecting and exploration, project-development and operational phases all the way through to the sales and marketing functions of a mining house.
During the early prospecting and exploration phases of a mining project, for example, cybercriminals could steal geophysical, research reports and feasibility studies to extort money from companies; weaken negotiating power of resource owners; and reduce the competitive edge of governments of host countries.
Meanwhile, a breach during the project-development cycle could lead to the misappropriation of intellectual property, such as production and processing methods and, in so doing, compromising project feasibility and a competitive edge.
Threats during the operational cycle include unauthorised access to automated equipment, as well as global-positioning and mine-monitoring systems. These have escalated as mines increasingly embrace next-generation automation and the Industrial Internet of Things.
Eloff says that any one of these scenarios would have potentially far-reaching negative implications on a company and its surroundings.
“They include financial losses; damaged equipment; and compromised health and safety protocols through to environmental concerns and lost production time,” he says.
“Meanwhile, potential breaches during the refining and upgrading of operations could result in health and safety issues; operational downtime; and sub-optimal yields. This is compounded by the potential theft of pricing data and customer information during the marketing function that threatens to undermine competitive positioning and lead to a decrease in market share; a damaged reputation; and lower valuations during mergers and acquisitions.”
Eloff notes that a robust cybersecurity strategy will also clearly designate ownership of information and computing services (ICS) security to the Chief Information Officer.
Moreover, roles for all team members, including managers and operators, as well as those representing third-party service providers, will be clearly defined to form a single line of accountability. This will also ensure that appropriate centralised or local solutions are identified and implemented, in addition to clearly outlining the requirements for the entire organisation.
While the global engineering and manufacturing sectors have increasingly adopted this approach as they strive to significantly bolster cybersecurity, the mining sector has been slow to change.
Rather, its engineers still own and control the production environment, including ICS and related security. This means that their focus has been on designing ICS solutions that are mainly safe and reliable. However, these systems are not necessarily secure as they were
not initially designed to be integrated to one another or into enterprise systems and, therefore, posed no real risk of a large-scale cascading failure due to an attack.
First Technology Group looks forward to continuing its long-standing professional relationship with leading local mines to help them safeguard their operations against cybercriminal activity.
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