It takes attention to detail to keep the IEC Working Groups straight let alone get a standard issued. But I have to take my hat off to these Working Groups, they are doing the hard work of creating SCADA security standards.

In January I had a chance to review and comment on two documents that were too early to even call drafts. The first was a standard for the enterprise network / SCADA network connection. The second was a remote access security standard. These documents were so early that is unfair to give a detailed review here. There were good sections and other sections that we had numerous comments on. Overall, I liked the idea of the realistic, bite size chunks these documents tackled.

The Working Group met last month in Italy, of which I’m very jealous, and did what standards group typically do in early phases. Major changes in content and structure are likely. One member wrote me that, “all the upcoming changes might still result in a work product that has little resemblance with the original profile proposals”.

This outcome is not at all discouraging because work is being done and progress is being made. It just rarely is a straight line in the standards process. The Working Groups goal is to have a draft out this summer. Stay tuned.