A lot has changed since Process Control Systems (PCS) were isolated and provided very specific functions based on proprietary closed vendor based solutions. In the early 1990's, and with evolution of Information Technology, PCS started taking higher leaps toward integration and open standards. Why? Simply because open standards drove cost down and provided ways to enhance plant operations due to integration and interconnectivity. Plant applications and services, including Intelligent Field Infrastructure (IFI) have far benefited from integration and interconnectivity. Other concerns emerged in the areas of Cybersecurity and Manageability.

This paper demonstrates how cyber security can be adopted into existing IFI systems and be an integral part of IFI deployment plan. It will attempt to identify intelligent field cyber security risk, look into available solutions, and evaluate a more systematic approach in enabling cyber protection into the end-to-end system.

Keywords:
firewall, information, Upstream Oil & Gas, cyber security, almadi, intelligent field infrastructure, infrastructure, ifi infrastructure, application, availability
Subjects:
Security, Information Management and Systems, Data and communications security, Data security
Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.