Addressing Cybersecurity Concerns for Oil and Gas Industry with Rugged Mobility

Addressing Cybersecurity Concerns for Oil and Gas Industry with Rugged Mobility

Jim Dempsey

Secure mobile communications are critical to oil and gas operations. A Ponemon Institute study reported, “68% of respondents said their operations have had at least one security compromise in the past year, resulting in the loss of confidential information or OT disruption,” and “61% say their organization’s industrial control systems protection and security is inadequate.” The security of mobile devices, the data they contain, and the communication they enable have become increasingly important. Computing devices that are in the hands of offshore mobile workers need to be built not only to survive harsh environments, but do so securely.

Understand the cyber-threat landscape

For offshore operations, it isn’t enough to assume the devices and communication protocols being used offer sufficient to protect the enterprise any longer. Offshore Energy Today identifies its top 10 cybersecurity issues threatening the industry with its most important issue being “lack of awareness about cybersecurity among employees.” It’s important that the risks and prevention of cyber-attack are communicated throughout the operation and that regular updates are delivered along with advice on what individuals can do to keep their company protected.

Complete security at the edge of the network

While oil and gas companies deploy highly secure applications and communications protocols to protect their industrial control networks and reduce downtime, they need to consider the devices on the edge of their networks. The devices that connect to these systems are often vulnerable to intrusion even if specialized software has been installed in them. Full protection requires that secure features are built into the hardware itself so that sophisticated cyber-attacks that circumvent software protections are thwarted at the hardware level. Rugged mobile devices go beyond what consumer-grade tablets and laptops can do with software solutions that don’t provide this level of protection.

The varied uses of wireless communication go beyond voice and text communication to include Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, wireless oil-exploration efforts, remote performance monitoring, and non-voice services that use General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) for monitoring well head activity. Because these other connections may travel over the same network infrastructure, cyber breaches can expand across the network to allow attackers access to systems beyond workers’ mobile devices. The Offshore Energy Today report recognizes the possible effects of this kind of vulnerability when it lists its third most important threat as “using standard IT products with known vulnerabilities in the production environment.” IT departments should consider the various ways cyber attacks penetrate their enterprises and look for mobile devices that embed security measures in hardware to thwart any attacks that may get through software and operating systems level protections.

Oil and gas companies should opt for purpose-built enterprise grade mobile devices that fit the following criteria:

1. Layered security approach

Security begins with the devices at the edge of the enterprise and the applications they host. Oil and gas companies need to protect their systems and operations at every level so that cyber threats are deflected at multiple points.Opt for enterprise-grade mobile devices that have security built in on the hardware and software levels.

2. Low failure rates to ensure uptime

Resilient mobile computers that continue to perform even after long work shifts under hostile conditions let workers monitor conditions and avert failures that can cause disruption and loss of production.

3. Rugged durability to meet harsh offshore environments

Exposure to harsh environmental conditions can make consumer grade mobile computers useless. Select rugged devices that can easily survive water, dirt, oil, and drops to keep operations running smoothly.

4. Flexible form factor

Different jobs require different ways of interacting with computers so that workers have the most appropriate form factors for their tasks. Options like the Panasonic Toughbook 20, a 2-in-1 computer that easily converts from a tablet to a laptop by connecting its companion keyboard, ensures that workers can type on physicals keyboard when necessary.

Panasonic mobility solutions are designed to enhance offshore operations and boost cybersecurity. Our complete portfolio of laptops, tablets, 2-in-1 devices and handhelds are ideal for the demanding conditions of the oil and gas industry. For more information on secure and rugged mobile solutions for offshore operations, please stop by the Panasonic booth #4205 at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2017

The Internet of Vehicles

the-internet-of-vehicles

The Internet of Vehicles

3 minutes

As innovation accelerates, it isn’t hard to imagine a world where cars drive themselves, or even fly. But cars that talk and think? You might be shaking your head, but that’s exactly where mobility is headed.

At ITS World Congress that starts in mid-September in Copenhagen, Panasonic’s Jarrett Wendt will offer ideas on the connected vehicle ecosystem enabling cars to communicate with each other and the road around them. If your travels don’t include Denmark in September, here are a few highlights.

The world is changing at hyper speed

As anyone in the tech world understands, disruption is the new normal. Constant innovation is now the price of entry, and the rate of change is increasing exponentially. Adoption rates have also accelerated dramatically. As inventor and futurist and Ray Kurzweil noted, we won’t experience 100 years of progress in this century – at today’s accelerated pace, it will be more like 20,000 years worth.

In our recent “Moving Forward,” research series, Panasonic Corp. of North America assesses how senior technology decision makers in industries including automotive view the technologies they see driving us forward, and the impact of these technologies on future plans. By 2025, 10 disruptive technologies are expected to generate trillions of dollars of economic impact. Our new research reveals that tech decision makers in automotive, avionics industries and related government agencies say their companies have already adopted five of these technologies on average. And four have risen to the top of their innovation agendas – energy storage, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and sustainable energy. Panasonic is deeply engaged in all of them.

The future of transportation is integrated

There has been a great deal of prototyping and testing of Intelligent Transportation Systems, but working with the Colorado Dept. of Transportation, Panasonic has developed a phased approach that will allow DOTs to effectively deploy these technologies at scale. Not just a system for main highways and thoroughfares, but for all roadways and arteries throughout an entire state or region.

Our role? A technology-agnostic strategic consultant, general contractor and solution integrator.

We’re one year into our real-world deployment along a particularly challenging 90 mile stretch of I-70 in Colorado, connecting Denver to Vail, where Coloradans face steep grades, severe curves, often-extreme weather, visibility and congestion difficulties. This is a 5-year, $72 million V2X program featuring a road-operator managed data platform deployed on active, open roadways.

Data has the power to drive safety

With our Intelligent Transportation solution, we’re talking about empowering DOTs with the ability to analyze everything from speed and heading, to windshield wiper and traction control status – providing valuable context on road conditions.

Suddenly, a roadway operator can receive this data and make up-to-the-minute decisions about deploying snowplows during winter storms – or optimize how traffic flows through the city in real time.

This technology can also communicate instantly about emergency braking and crashes, and enables customized alerts to be sent to cars in specific locations instantaneously.

Imagine driving along the highway in the mountains and a crash occurs 1,000 feet down the road and around a blind turn. V2X will enable our vehicles to warn us or even react on our behalf – to prevent us from becoming a part of the incident even before the compromised vehicle is visible. And emergency services can be deployed more expeditiously, and more cost-effectively, than ever before.

Talking cars can reduce traffic

Connected vehicle technology will save lives through a significant reduction in the number of non-impaired crashes – estimates are as high as 80%. CDOT estimates as much as a 400% increase in roadway efficiency with wide scale deployment of connected vehicle technology – without the expense of widening roadways and adding lanes. The system is also expected to reduce the amount of time people spend in traffic and lessen the environmental impact of idling cars by mitigating congestion.

Read more about how disruptive technology is impacting transportation in The Year of the Smart Highway.

Authors
Tom Gebhardt - Chairman and CEO, Panasonic Corporation of North America

Building a wireless future that is far-reaching and accessible

Future of Bluetooth Mesh Networks

Building a wireless future that is far-reaching and accessible

4 minutes

The most inspiring example of the power of mesh networks, a distributed communication system, where each device acts as a node that can relay data to the others, lies in the island of Puerto Rico. That’s where a couple of volunteers with antennas, wireless mesh devices and solar panels helped to restore communications for relief effort coordinators in Barranquitas, a city battered by Hurricane Maria. “Within three days, volunteers were using both technologies to more effectively coordinate the delivery of food and medicine,” according to an article in Quartz.

Disaster management and public safety is one reason for the strong growth forecast for the global wireless mesh network market, but not the only one, according to a new report by Zion Market Research. Its study finds that the global wireless mesh network market was valued at $3.84 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach around $9.08 billion by 2024. The oil & gas Industry, video streaming and surveillance, smart mobility and smart city applications are among the biggest drivers of growth of mesh networking thanks to its promise of low-cost access to broadband services.

Bluetooth 5.0 was officially deployed in 2016 with a focus on enhancing the range, speed and data capacity for the connections. It also had another promising role: IoT connectivity. Where Bluetooth had previously been thought of as a 1-to-1 connection between devices, this concentration on IoT tech allows for the connection of multiple devices and, ultimately, the cloud.

Recent research on disruptive technology by Panasonic shows that many companies have adopted mobile devices, apps and commerce and the cloud, and three in five have adopted the Internet of Things (IoT). Senior tech decision makers believe these technologies are critical to their future success, according to our research. Clearly developments, such as mesh networking, that yield fruitful deployments of disruptive technology are important to these decision makers.

Wide-ranging applications

Bluetooth mesh network represents a major step towards a more accessible and wide-ranging wireless future. It allows for multiple devices to connect to the same network and all communicate seamlessly and in real time. A standard Bluetooth network is similar to a speaker presenting to an audience. The speaker may address the entire audience or individual members and audience members may address a question to the speaker, but audience members don’t communicate among themselves. In a Bluetooth mesh network audience members may address one another. This topology has two advantages. First, since a single message may travel along many routes to its destination, this dramatically increases the probability that the message arrives. The second advantage is the increased distance a message may travel – like one audience member speaking to another.

While standard Bluetooth recently upgraded its range in the Bluetooth 5.0 update, mesh networking hypothetically allows for infinite range if the proper chain links are in place.

Mesh networks in healthcare

There are pioneering Bluetooth mesh network examples in healthcare. Hospitals are using Bluetooth beacons to monitor and track equipment. But helping nurses locate equipment is just the surface of Bluetooth’s capabilities in the health system. Using this tech, doctors and nurses could monitor patients from anywhere, significantly reducing the need for hospital visits. These visits are both costly and potentially dangerous due to the risk of things like contagious diseases and infection. Not only would a doctor or nurse be able to monitor patients wirelessly, but a patient’s devices at home could do things like monitor temperature through biometric sensors and automatically notify the drug store to deliver medicine if the patient got a fever.

Benefits to manufacturing

There are also clear benefits from the Bluetooth mesh network in the manufacturing sector, especially where multiple machines operate simultaneously on the plant floor. Previously, if two devices situated beyond the range of a Bluetooth device needed to communicate, it would require either a wired connection or gateway that could connect to the cloud. This cloud connection requires Wi-Fi, which uses significantly more energy. Now with the mesh network, every single device in the entire factory can connect to each other via Bluetooth, and even the ones farthest away can communicate if necessary by bouncing the signal through other devices on the way.

Bluetooth mesh networking is just one piece of the wireless future that is to come. Read more in our Future of Wireless Everything series. 

Authors
Jeff Howell - President of Panasonic Industrial Devices Sales Company of America