Reader Comment – NIST Working Group

An informative comment from RCandell on this morning’s blog post about the Wireless Systems for Industrial Environments (WSIE) program. I had sent Richard Candell, the lead for the working group, an email asking about cybersecurity concerns in the working group. Read his comment, but the short answer is that ICS cybersecurity is being handled elsewhere within NIST. His group will rely on NIST SP 800-82 and the Cybersecurity Framework for the cybersecurity information that they will include in their guidelines product.

Nice to have a prompt response from Richard. Not what you always get from the guvmint (Grin).

NIST Announces Wireless Control System Network Study

Today the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a notice in the Federal Register (82 FR 21980) that it was establishing a technical working group (TWG) to develop best practices guidelines in selecting and deploying industrial wireless solutions within industrial environments such as process control and manufacturing.

The TWG would be established under the Networked Control System Group (NCSG). NIST is asking for organizations that wish to participate in the TWG to notify them within the next 180 days. No further details are provided in the notice.

The NCSG does have a web page established for their Wireless Systems for Industrial Environments (WSIE) program. That page does briefly acknowledge that one of the problems facing the adoption of wireless control systems technology is cybersecurity. A separate web page for the new TWG does not mention cybersecurity at all. It is not clear at this point whether or not cybersecurity concerns will be addressed in the best practice guidelines being developed.