According to the latest published research by Kaspersky about industrial cyber security, a wide majority of surveyed organizations have expressed concerns about OT (operational technology) security. However, only one-third of the survey respondents have deployed some degrees of OT security. Such findings have clearly revealed the vulnerability of utility-generating and mission critical organizations. Apparently, with such level of protection, any deliberate attack like DDoS would devastate a country’s supply of electricity, water, petroleum or gas. In short, the OT asset management remains a challenge for ICS (industrial control system) and SCADA owners and is apparently vulnerable.

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Cloud computing is no longer a new buzzword, and in fact, cloud computing is approaching to its next evolution: cloud-first strategy. By definition, it specifies all the business networking activities are conducted in the cloud first. Cloud-first strategy makes practical senses for global enterprises with branches worldwide so that employees can synchronize from mobile devices and remote locations. In fact, organizations with initiatives for cloud-first strategy are requiring a virtualized, automated, and agile network orchestration to easily manage their IT infrastructure, in order to manage the increasing traffics on the cloud and their applications. Thus, SD-WAN has become the optimal choice as it also comes with the capability in securing business applications.

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Most of today’s SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) networks have replaced proprietary protocols with TCP/IP connections in order to reduce operational costs, improve interoperability and productivity, and accelerate deployment times for mission-critical infrastructures. In fact, such technological transformations have continued as owners and management of utility infrastructures demand higher degree of visibility, seamless remote management, and IT/OT convergence

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Electrical mobility is expected to enjoy a continuous momentum, thanks to policies in countries with leading economic status implementing either incentives or restrictions. For instance, some countries would ban the use of fuel-consuming vehicles while others provide economical measures to encourage vehicle owners to make a replacement with EV (electric vehicles). Indeed, advanced countries and developing countries have the common objective to reach a zero/low – emission transportation. However, EV growth may be challenged by the concern of “range anxiety”, as some EV owners have the fear of insufficient range to reach their destinations. To counter this fear, there is an increasing number of EC charging stations and some of them offer fast-charging functions.

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Cyber threats to critical infrastructures shall be taken more serious than ever, as the number of attack incidents has increased and penetrated nuclear plants, and then oil, gas and energy sectors. On the other hand, hydroelectric has remained as one of the most reliable renewable source of energy for the past years.

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