Crucial Vulnerabilities Exist in the VxWorks IPnet Stack

According to Security Week (reported the other day):

"In late July, IoT security firm Armis disclosed eleven vulnerabilities found by its researchers in the VxWorks real time operating system (RTOS). The flaws, six of which have been described as critical, can allow a remote attacker to take control of impacted systems.
Armis said the vulnerabilities exist in the VxWorks IPnet stack and they expose over 200 million mission-critical devices from around the world to attacks, including in the healthcare, manufacturing, cybersecurity, tech, and industrial automation sectors. ..."

Devices from several vendors might be impacted ...

Click HERE for the full report. There you find links to the vendor's recommendations ... You know what that could mean? One vendor notes: "Applying the update causes the device / module to go through a single restart cycle."

Hirschmann Switches provide integrated IEC 61850 Server

The new 8.0 release (The Classic Switch Software) increases again the feature range for managed switches from the MACH, MICE, Rail and OCTOPUS families from Hirschmann™.
Depending on the switch family, these include an integrated IEC61850 server for seamless integration into data networks for power generation and distribution. A PTP power profile according to IEEE C37.238 also allows to accurately synchronizing these networks. Thanks to support for Jumbo frames, which ensure optimum utilization of user data, high-resolution video applications are also possible.
Furthermore, in addition to extensions for PROFINET and Ethernet/IP, the new release for all four switch families offers additional mechanisms for detecting overload situations as well as improved diagnostic and encryption mechanisms.

Click HERE to get more information on the new release providing an IEC 61850 Server.

To my knowledge, they were the first manufacturer that supported an IEC 61850 Server in their Ethernet Switches.

Belden seeks to acquire networking specialist RuggedCom ‎

Ruggedized network infrastructure compliant to IEC 61850-3 is crucial for the implementation of Smart(er) Grids. RuggedCom – one of the well known brands in the substation domain – is one of the companies that offers network components to build the needed communication infrastructure.

One of RuggedCom competitors, Belden (Hirschmann is a brand of Belden), wants to take RuggedCom over.

Click HERE for the press news.

This shows that the Power Industry is following the native Ethernet solutions. IEC 61850 is based on the native Ethernet solution in contrast to the industrial automation domain where a lot of even standardized solutions like EtherCat, ProfiNet, PowerLink, … compete with each other Ethernet-based and traditional Fieldbuses, e.g., Profibus, CAN, Interbus, …

The Electric Power System has a highly standardized process: the 3 phase A.C. system (50 or 60 Hz). This single process requires a single communication solution: IEC 61850 based on native Ethernet.

NEW Hirschmann Ethernet Switches for Substations and other Critical Applications

Hirschmann is (to my knowledge) the leading manufacturers of Ethernet Switches for mission critical industrial applications. Hirschmann is also quite active in the domain of substations (IEC 61850, …). The following new products offer standardized features like RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol), PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) and HSR (High-availability Seamless Redundancy).

With these components there is sufficient timeliness guaranteed in mission critical substation protection and automation systems. This is far above the old “yellow cable” Ethernet of the 80s and 90s.

Hirschmann™ presents switches from its new RSP family Redundancy with zero switchover time:
Click HERE for further information (English)
Click HERE for further information (German)

Hirschmann™ once again demonstrates its market leadership in Industrial
Ethernet Hirschmann™ switches support seamless redundancy. The new PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) and HSR (High-availability Seamless
Redundancy) protocols are two newly developed redundancy methods that significantly increase the availability and reliability of network connections:
Click HERE for further information (English)
Click HERE for further information (German)

Hirschmann™ markets new Embedded Ethernet components Module with the functional scope of a standalone switch:
Click HERE for further information (English)

White Paper on Media Redundancy Concepts - High Availability in Industrial Ethernet:
Click HERE for further information (English)