Cybersecurity in process control, operations, and supply chain

“With the integration of computation, networking, and physical process components to seamlessly combine hardware and software resources to improve process efficiency, cybersecurity has become increasingly important for reliable process control, process operation, and supply chain management in the chemical process industries.” The authors provide an overview for cybersecurity issues plaguing process operation & control, and supply chain management. They begin by reviewing recent cyber-attack detection and mitigation works via machine learning (ML) and model predictive control (MPC) in order to allow for detection and consequent handling of intelligent cyber-attacks. They continue by highlighting the majority of the common intelligent cyber-attacks, followed by what methods can be used for detection within machine learning and control strategies. Encryption–decryption tools are used “to achieve secure communication in the sensor–controller and controller–actuator links.” The architecture is another point discussed where novel control architectures can also prevent these intelligent cyber-attacks. The article goes on to describe “the interface between information technology and operational technology. Finally, we discuss recent efforts on the interface of cybersecurity and process safety and conclude with a discussion of open issues in this emerging research field.”