PROCESS PLANT NETWORK WITH SECURED EXTERNAL ACCESS

• US 20160147206A1
• Filed: 11/21/2014
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Neitzel, Lee A., Ussing, Dan H.
• Granted Patent: US 11,073,805 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/462 LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms

Abstract

A process control system having an external data server that provides process control data to external networks via one or more firewalls implements a cost-effective security mechanism that reduces or eliminates the ability of the external data server to be compromised by viruses or other security attacks. The security mechanism includes a DMZ gateway disposed outside of the process control network that connects to an external data server located within the process control network. A configuration engine is located within the process control network and configures the external data server to publish one or more preset or pre-established data views to the DMZ gateway, which then receives the data/events/alarms as defined by the data views from the control system automatically, without performing read and write requests to the external data server. The DMZ gateway then republishes the data within the data views on an external network to make the process control data within the published data views available to one or more client applications connected to the external network. Because this security mechanism does not support client read, write, or configuration access to the external data server within the control system, this security mechanism limits the opportunity of viruses to use the structure in the DMZ gateway device to access the process control network.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising:

a process control network including a plurality of process control devices communicatively connected together;

an external data server disposed within the process control network;

an external communications network disposed outside of the process control network;

a gateway device communicatively coupled between the external data server and the external communications network; and

a configuration application stored on a computer memory within a device within the process control network, that executes on a processor within the device within the process control network to configure the external data server to publish data to the external communications network according to one or more data views, wherein each of the one or more data views defines a set of process control data to be published.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the configuration application further executes on the processor within the device within the process control network to configure the external data server to include data view files specifying the data within one or more data views and to publish the data view files to the gateway device connected to the external communications network.

3. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external data server is unable to respond to read calls from the gateway device.

4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external data server is unable to respond to write calls from the gateway device.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external data server is unable to respond to configuration calls from the gateway device.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more data views specifies a set of process control data generated or collected by one more process controllers within the process control network.

7. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more data views specifies process control data generated or collected by one more field devices within the process control network.

8. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more data views specifies process control configuration data stored in a memory of a further device within the process control network.

9. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more data views specifies maintenance data about one or more process control devices within the process control network.

10. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the configuration application executes to configure the external data server to periodically publish data according to the one or more data views.

11. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external data server conforms to the OPC protocol.

12. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the external data server is configured to receive and act upon configuration commands only from devices within the process control network.

13. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the configuration application is stored and executed within the external data server.

14. The communication system of claim 1, further including a data or event historian disposed within the process control network and wherein the external data server obtains some of the process control data defined by the one or more data views from the data or event historian.

15. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the gateway device includes a firewall.

16. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the gateway device is configured to republish data according to the one or more data views as received from the external data server to one or more client applications on the external communications network.

17. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the gateway device is unable to execute read or write or configuration calls to the external data server.

18. A communication system, comprising:

a process control network including a plurality of process control devices communicatively connected together;

an external data server disposed within the process control network;

an external communications network disposed outside of the process control network; and

a gateway device communicatively coupled between the external data server and the external communications network;

wherein the external data server stores one or more data view files and executes to publish data to the gateway device according to one or more data view files, wherein each of the one or more data view files defines a set of process control data from within the process control network to be published and wherein the gateway device stores a set of further data view files defining data to be received from the external data server via publications from the external data server and the gateway device is configured to republish data to one or more client applications connected to the external communications network using the set of further data view files.

19. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the external data server periodically publishes data to the gateway device according to the one or more data view files.

20. The communication system of claim 18, further including a configuration application stored within a device within the process control network that executes to configure the external data server to store the one or more data view files.

21. The communication system of claim 20, wherein the configuration application is stored in the external data server.

22. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the gateway device stores the one or more further data view files.

23. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the external data server is configured to be unable to respond to read or write calls from the gateway device.

24. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the gateway device includes a firewall disposed between the external data server and the external communications network.

25. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the gateway device is configured to be unable to send read or write calls to the external data server.

26. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the external data server is configured to only respond to configuration commands from a source within the process control network.

27. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the external data server is configured to obtain data defined by the one or more data views via the process control network.

28. A method of securely providing information from a process control network to an external communications network in a system having an external data server coupled within the process control network and that is communicatively connected to a gateway device that is connected to the external communications network, comprising:

storing one or more data view files in the external data server, wherein each data view file specifies a set of process control data to be regularly published to the external communications network;

configuring the external data server to communicate with the gateway device using data publish signals;

causing the external data server to automatically publish process control data specified by the one or more data view files to the gateway device; and

preventing the external data server from responding to read, write and configuration commands from the gateway device.

29. The method of claim 28, further including causing the gateway device to republish the process control data sent to the gateway device by the external data server to one or more client applications on the external communications network.

30. The method of claim 29, further including storing further data view files at the gateway device defining the process control data to be received from the external data server via data publish signals and to be republished to the one or more client applications.

31. The method of claim 29, further including causing the one or the client devices to subscribe to the process control data republished by the gateway device.

32. The method of claim 28, further including storing a configuration application within a device within the process control network and using the configuration application to configure the external data server to publish the process control data specified by the one or more data view files.

33. The method of claim 32, further including configuring the gateway device to republish the process control data to one or more client applications.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein storing the configuration application includes storing the configuration application in a different device on the process control network than the external data server.

35. The method of claim 28, wherein causing the external data server to automatically publish process control data specified by the one or more data view files to the gateway device includes causing the external data server to obtain the process control data specified by the one or more data view files from the process control network and to periodically send the obtained process control data to the gateway device.

36. The method of claim 28, further including configuring the external data server to be only able to implement configuration commands received from a device within the process control network.

37. The method of claim 28, further including configuring the gateway device to be unable to implement read and write calls to the external data server in response to commands received from one or more client applications on the external communications network.