When Digital Communications Became Safety-Critical: How a Network Switch Failure Affected Control System Logic and Operator Situational Awareness

The OT cybersecurity community has largely focused on IT/OT convergence and cyberattacks as the primary cybersecurity concerns. However, the recent Hatch nuclear plant scram (forced shutdown) illustrates a broader engineering issue. The scram occurred within four minutes after installation of a new network switch that experienced a broadcast storm.According to the NRC report, the broadcast//SCADAS.ECRead More