Fri Apr 8 06:49:41 PDT 2016
Control Architecture: Change management: How are changes to ICS and supporting infrastructure handled?
Options:
Option 1: Just let change happen and hope you can handle it.
Option 2: Make backups before changes in case you have to revert.
Option 3: Use change control prior to changes but move forward and count on your expertise to make it work.
Option 4: Use sound change control with full reversion capabilities.
Option 5: Recertify systems in context whenever significant changes are made.
Option 6: ICS-specific change controls should be used.
Decision:
Risk | Maturity | Change approach |
---|
High | Managed+ |
Use sound change control with full reversion capabilities. AND Recertify systems in context whenever significant changes are made. AND ICS-specific change controls should be used. |
High | Defined- |
Do not operate at high risk with this level of maturity. |
Medium | Managed+ |
[Based on risk management and executive decision-making, Use change control prior to changes but move forward and count on your expertise to make it work OR Use sound change control with full reversion capabilities OR Make backups before changes in case you have to revert.] AND ICS-specific change controls should be used. |
Medium | Repeatable or Defined |
Make backups before changes in case you have to revert. AND ICS-specific change controls should be used. |
Medium | Initial- |
Initial is not mature enough to operate at medium risk - increase maturity level |
Low | Repeatable+ |
Make backups before changes in case you have to revert. |
Low | Initial- |
Just let change happen and hope you can handle it. |
Change management architecture
ALSO Specific sound change control and recertification requirements should be used for specific ICS systems.
- For SCADA systems, risk is the aggregate of all risks of all
direct and indirect controlled components including aggregation risks
and common mode failure risks. Normally this leads them to be placed
in the sound change control and recertification realm. This then
implies that they should not be connected to non ICS networks except
through the change control process, and that after changes are made,
the full set of recertification tests should be undertaken.
- For PLCs, ladder logic and other code changes should not be
permitted except in maintenance periods, and this should be enforced
by a "maintenance mode" switch on the PLC which permits such changes.
The PLC logic should prohibit changes to memory areas where control
functions are performed and disable such changes except then the
maintenance mode setting is active. Changes to all data values should
also be limited to acceptable process values as a function of state.
Ladder logic should include the state of the maintenance switch in
input from non DCS components and should limit operating time in
maintenance mode requiring manual actions to continue controlling
(sending output) in maintenance modes. PLCs should be tested against
the full suite of acceptance and regression tests associated with
recertification prior to being put into an operational mode after
maintenance involving connections to external systems.
- DCS devices, intelligent sensors and actuators, and similar
equipment should not permit reprogramming except in maintenance mode
of their controlling PLCs or SCADA systems. Changes should also be
limited at the PLC and, if possible with redundant controls, in the
intelligent DCS, actuator, or sensor. Recertification should be done
after any significant changes to DCS devices.
Basis:
Just let change happen and hope you can handle it.
Fast and loose is often the best approach for smaller businesses or
for portions of businesses where risks are low. The cost of sound
change control is often on the order of twice the cost of not having
it, so low risk and low cost make sense together. But for medium and
high risk ICS, change control is absolutely required.
Make backups before changes in case you have to revert.
Backups are used to provide a modicum of recoverability, and
changes are made with the knowledge that reversion is, at least
theoretically, possible. It is prudent to also have a tested recovery
procedure and to verify that the backups are a workable solution for
recovery in desired time frames.
| Research and development separated from change control separated from production, testing at each step |
Use change control prior to changes but move forward and count on your expertise to make it work.
In forward-only environments, such as financial transaction
systems, many enterprises choose to never go back once a substantial
change is made. This means that they accept the risk of failure and
save the cost of full reversion. It places additional pressure on
testing and process to get it right, and means that experts have to be
available to deal with the issues if and when they arise, and in real
time.
Use sound change control with full reversion capabilities.
Sound change control implies:
- A system for requesting, specifying, implementing, testing, and implementing changes,
- A method for tracking and backing out of changes,
- Separation of duties between research and development, testing, change control, and operations,
- Databases that track these different elements of the process,
- Approval processes and work flows to assure operational execution,
- Integration of changes into the detection and response process to prevent false positives and potentially harmful responses,
- Notification of audit so they can adapt their auditing to meet the new requirements,
- Updated documentation to reflect operational changes and user changes,
- Training to adapt the people to the changes,
- HR and legal approval of changes impacting those areas, and
- Policies, standards, and procedures must be followed along the way.
Recertify systems in context whenever significant changes are
made. In high-consequence systems, particularly where process
failures can cause harm that is not rapidly and automatically detected
and readily mitigated, significant changes (i.e., anything other than
well-tested variations in parameters) should result in a system
recertification in context. This includes both a thorough retest of
the systems undergoing changes equivalent to the acceptance tests
performed initially, regression testing of all known and resolved
subsequent issues, and tests equivalent to acceptance and regression
tests of interoperation to assure that changes don;t have adverse
effects on related systems.
ICS-specific change controls should be used.
For ICS systems that directly contact and control physical
systems, changes are very closely related to the specifics of the
physical system under control. As such, issues like stability and the
ability to maintain control over the process are central to change
management. As such, these are engineering decisions that rely on
engineering calculations and analysis. Such changes cannot be made in
bulk or based on a generic patch management approach, and cannot be
tested with common system testing methods. Plant shutdown is often
required for such changes, and simulations may also used to test some
classes of changes.
Copyright(c) Fred Cohen, 1988-2015 - All Rights Reserved
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