EQUATE selects Siemens to support upgrade of its industrial control systems’ cyber security

Siemens technology will support the efforts of EQUATE Petrochemical Company, a global producer of petrochemicals, to enhance its protection from cyber security threats, following a comprehensive assessment of the industrial control system (ICS) at the company’s marine terminal operation area.

Having carried out an IEC 62443 assessment of network security audit, Siemens will now support EQUATE with an upgrade to the Simatic PCS 7 distributed control system.

“Siemens’ digital solutions are helping protect industry players from cyber threats, which is a top concern for the oil and gas industry in this digital age,” said Herbert Klausner, CEO, Siemens Kuwait. “In collaboration with EQUATE’s experts, we were able to analyze production and process infrastructures, and recommend a set of measures that address their specific needs, which in turn supports upgrading the protection of their operations today and in the future.”

EQUATE’s VP for Technical services Tareq Jafar Al-Kandari said: “The overall security and reliability of our ICS are key elements of our business at EQUATE. Driven by our human capital’s innovation and ever-increasing desire for progress as cornerstones of success, EQUATE is always evaluating and upgrading all its resources, including systems, to ensure continuous business excellence. For that, we constantly collaborate with suitable partners, including Siemens, to achieve our requirements. In addition, realizing the significance of ICS, EQUATE since 2014 has launched a specialized conference addressing the security of industrial automation in partnership with several reputed organizations, such as Siemens.”  

The Siemens Simatic PCS 7 process control system was the first product with IEC 62443 security certification. The system controls and monitors continuous manufacturing processes, such as those in chemical and cement plants, the water and waste water sector, and the pharmaceuticals industry. As plant downtime in these industries can have enormous effects, both functional safety and industrial security are very important. 

Simatic PCS 7 provides a large number of functions for industrial security, including segmentation into zones and security cells, the security of access points and user authentication, secure communication, patch management, system hardening, virus scanners and whitelisting. The comprehensive security measures and functions for Simatic PCS 7 contribute toward safeguarding plant operation, and so avoid plant downtimes and expensive outage times.

In addition to the existing standards for cyber security, IEC 62443 has evolved today into one of the most future-oriented security standards worldwide. It goes further than other standards and defines requirements for all parties involved, including product suppliers, system integrators and operators.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, 2016, Siemens generated revenue of €79.6 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2016, the company had around 351,000 employees worldwide.Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
The EQUATE Group* is a global producer of petrochemicals and the world’s second largest producer of Ethylene Glycol (EG). The Group has industrial complexes in Kuwait, North America and Europe that annually produce over 5 million tons of Ethylene, EG, Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). The products are marketed throughout Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The EQUATE Group’s shareholders include Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). The Group is a leading enterprise that pursues sustainability wherever it operates through partnerships in fields that include the environment, economy and society. www.equate.com *The EQUATE Group includes EQUATE Petrochemical Company (EQUATE), its subsidiaries and The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC).