Association News

• August 31, 2023
• Association News

Summary

ISA Announces 2023 ‘Celebrating Excellence’ Honorees

Congratulations are in order for the 2023 Celebrating Excellence honorees. ISA’s annual Celebrating Excellence awards are designed to stimulate, enhance, encourage, acknowl­edge, and reward outstanding contributions to ISA and the automation profession overall. The Honors & Awards Committee receives award nominations for defined Society awards, reviews the candidate qualifications, and recommends to the Executive Board honorees for approval.

Award categories and awardees are listed below. Individuals will be recognized for their outstanding achievement at the 2023 Automation & Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs, CO, in October.

 

IEC-62443 at NASA: ISA Cybersecurity Director Gives AI Presentation

ISA Cybersecurity Director in Brazil and IEC-62443 official instructor Felipe Sabino Costa presented at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conference on how to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for the creation of security zones to address cybersecurity challenges.

The presentation noted that AI can be used to fortify industrial control systems (ICS) and minimize their attack surfaces. Using different types of AI techniques such as unsupervised learning, supervised learning, and neural networks, proposed security zones can be compared, he said.

Unsupervised learning algorithms enable the identification of hidden patterns and structures within data, assisting in the delineation of potential security zones based on inherent characteristics, Sabino Costa said. Supervised learning algorithms, on the other hand, utilize labeled data to train models, facilitating predictions and defining appropriate security zone boundaries. The utilization of neural networks, with their capacity to model complex relationships and adapt to evolving data, presents an additional avenue for accurately defining security zones.

It is important to acknowledge that AI cannot completely automate the process, and the need for human validation and the critical perspectives of companies remains crucial, he said. Collaborative efforts, combining human expertise with the capabilities of AI, are essential to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of security zones.

In addition to being an ISA/IEC-62443 industrial cybersecurity instructor, Felipe Sabino Costa is also an  Industrial Cybersecurity (IACS) Expert, international speaker, and author of books and white papers with more than 19 years’ experience in the industrial sector. He is product marketing manager for networking and cybersecurity for Moxa Americas Inc. and holds cybersecurity certifications from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, MIT, IBM, and Stanford. 

Registration Opens for ISA Digital Transformation Conference—Malaysia 

The dates have been set—November 26- 30—and registration is open for ISA Digital Transformation Conference—Asia Pacific. The event will be held live in Perth, the capital and largest city of Western Australia.
This dual-track conference will focus on mining and supply chain issues in the Asia Pacific region. Specifically, it will home in on improved security and efficiency in the energy and mining industries, with an em­phasis on predictive analytics, supply chain, and new technology implementation. This first-of-its-kind ISA event brings together subject matter experts from key end users within Australia’s major industries to share presentations, end-user case studies, and best practices for adopting, accelerating, and monetizing digital transformation applications.

Join your peers on this deep dive into technology applications that streamline design, certification, and start-up processes while improving safety, efficiency, and the bottom line. The metals and mining industry supplies minerals critical to powering a green economy, so sessions also will explore ESG topics and advances in AI that will drive a sustainable future.

 

ISA’s Inaugural Podcast, Podomation, Is Live

Subject matter experts from throughout the industrial automation community are the focus of Podomation, ISA’s original podcast covering all things automation and cybersecurity. The first episode launched in July with a conversation recorded live at ISA’s OT Cybersecurity Summit in Aberdeen, Scotland on the topic of software bills of materials, or SBOMs.

ISA’s Director of Communications and Events Morgan Foor facilitated the conversation between Chris Blask, vice president of strategy for Cybeats; Steve Mustard, ISA treasurer and president of National Automation, Inc.; and Cheri Caddy, deputy director at the US Office of the National Cyber Director. Blask, Mustard, and Caddy broke down the importance of SBOMs and how they impact software supply chain risk management.

The ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards “is all about what needs to be done and not how, which is deliberate, as the standards are all about what needs to be done without being prescriptive about technology or vendor,” says Mustard.

Blask, Mustard, and Caddy discuss how cybersecurity is indeed a spectrum with each organization’s tolerance for risk as a key factor. At a minimum, you don’t want to overlook the basic elements of cyber-hygiene, they say.
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to see new episodes as soon as they are available. Future topics include industry 4.0, digital transformation, manufacturing and machine control, connectivity and cybersecurity for operational technology, and continuous batch processing. Experts interested in suggesting topics, being a guest or advertising on Podomation can contact staff at podomation@isa.org.   -By Ashley Ragan

 

ISA Releases Position Paper on Sustainability

ISA has released it first position paper, “Achieving Sustainability Goals with Automation.” The paper recommends industry and government stakeholders embrace automation technologies as a leading component of their sustainability strategies and environment, society and governance (ESG) programs.

The paper notes the emergence of “Industry 5.0” and says, “Beyond advancements in manufacturing safety and efficiency, the concept of ‘Industry 5.0’ aims to articulate the role and contribution that industry makes to society as a whole. With a focus on resilient, human-centered, and sustainable business strategies, Industry 5.0 includes the use of renewable energy sources, the reduction of waste and emissions, and the adoption of circular economy principles, which aim to eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and recycle and reuse to ‘regenerate nature.’”

Specifically, the paper recommends companies and governments:

• Optimize energy use and energy efficiency with automation technologies, and rely upon automation to help reuse, refurbish, and recycle products and materials, particularly when undergoing a facility’s digital transformation.
• Promote sustainable materials and manufacturing processes in support of Industry 5.0 principles.
• Utilize automation technologies to keep workers, communities, and ecosystems safe and protected, and train and upskill workers in automation processes and systems.
• Rely upon the objective and unbiased data and analysis provided by automation technologies to meet governance and compliance needs.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linked In