- An oil and gas pipeline company strengthened cybersecurity for pipeline monitoring based on the IEC 62443 industrial security standard
- Pump stations along the pipeline had analyzers and PLCs connected to remote SCADA systems, and that connection needed a proper security layer rather than relying on obscurity
Case Studies
IEC 62443 Pipeline Cybersecurity Upgrade
26 Jun 2026Managed industrial switches and network management software for securing oil and gas pipeline monitoring networks.
Overview
ChallengesThe main challenges were
- PLCs and I/O devices lacked security features
- Unmanaged switches at field sites lacked management and security functions, making it hard to monitor status and build the first security layer
ObjectivesThe system needed to
- Build a defense-in-depth network
- add user authentication
- protect data integrity and confidentiality
- control network access
- manage vulnerabilities across the pump-station network on an ongoing basis rather than as a one-time fix
Solution DeliveredThe solution included
- Industrial managed Ethernet switches replaced the unmanaged switches at each field site, giving the network team visibility and control they simply didn't have before — port-level access control, authentication, and the ability to actually see device status remotely instead of learning about a problem from a site visit
- Industrial network management software layered on top gave a visual, centralized view of network and security status across every pump station, turning IEC 62443 compliance from a paperwork exercise into something the operations team could actually monitor day to day
Products referenced in the source material include
Conclusion
A Critical Oil & Gas story because pipeline communications are safety-critical and cyber risk is operational risk.
