Impressions from the SCADA Security Conference

Being part of the FFF portfolio, the SCADA Security Conference has long-term ambitions to address current and future threats, track trends and determine the right direction for development in their areas. At the time of the so-called hybrid wars, successful cyber defence is becoming an important element of the overall security and not only for the industry.

A total of 29 speakers from 7 countries (CZ, CH, GE, PT, IT, EST, AT) attended the conference. The topics of the conference were divided into 8 sections:

• Current and future cyber trends and threats
• New technologies in the field of industrial control systems’ security
• Control systems’ security
• Telematics and the safety of modern vehicles
• The differences between Information and Operational technologies
• The liability of business entities and the State in protecting the cyberspace
• Concept of Industry 4.0
• Human factor in relation to cyber security

The conference was complemented with series of bilateral and multilateral talks. One of them was, for example, a Round Table subjected on "Security Services and SCADA Systems", attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Defense, National Cyber and Information Security Agency, academic and industrial organizations under the auspices of the AFCEA Cyber Security Working Group. Another example is the Portuguese-Italian-Slovak-Czech forum on mutual cooperation in the field of cyber security, organized by the Portuguese branch of the AFCEA.

The conference also saw an accompanying exhibition of products and solutions by each conference partner, which presented a concrete solution to the impact of cyber threats, as well as the procedures to face and prevent such threats. An example is the presentation by Tobias Schroedel, who illustrated in several practical demonstrations the impact of these threats and possible risks in IT and OT. Other significant participants were a number of legal experts who have been involved in the debate not only on responsibility for damage caused by cyber attacks, but also on the protection of personal data and the safety of industrial control systems. Cyber security has thus proven to be a multidisciplinary field in which IT and security experts represent only one community of modern society.

An attractive program that accompanied intensive networking during conference breaks and evening social gatherings, along with numerous IT and OT industry representatives, brought many stakeholders from the state institutions and industry, science and research a lot of interesting information, news, new contacts and approaches including business opportunities for partners and exhibitors.

Conference proceedings will be published and will be available for downloading through conference webpages. The printed catalogue is available here.

SCADA 2017 in numbers:
2 conference days, 26 lectures, 29 speakers from 7 countries, 166 registered participants from 10 countries, 12 commercial partners, 7+ hours of networking