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Critical Manufacturing · Chemicals · Discrete and process plants
A plant makes money when the line runs, and stays safe when the safety systems work. Red Tiger Security assesses the live control network without stopping production. The walk starts where the plant touches business IT, the cloud, and machine builders, and works down to the PLCs, the DCS, and the safety instrumented systems. Then the team fixes the immediate need. If you want Red Tiger to stay, the close is 24x7 MSP + Metrics and Reports.
CISA's Critical Manufacturing Sector covers primary metals, machinery, electrical equipment, and transportation equipment. Chemicals is its own sector. [1,2] The control systems are similar. What fails, and how, is different.
Automotive, aerospace, machinery, electronics. PLCs, robot controllers, drives, and vision systems on a line that is tightly scheduled. A stopped line costs money by the minute. A stopped plant can stop the suppliers that feed it.
Chemicals, metals, pulp and paper, pharma, and food. A DCS runs the process, and a safety instrumented system stands behind it. A bad change here is a safety problem as well as a production problem.
Pharma and food plants run the same PLCs, batch systems, and historians, with their own quality rules on top. Recipes and batch records are part of the risk.
Chemical plants are process plants with hazardous materials. The DCS runs reactors and columns, and the SIS takes the process to a safe state when something goes wrong. The team assesses both, plant-safe, with operations and the process safety team in the room.
The SIS is the reason to be careful. In late 2017, malware known as TRITON, TRISIS, or HatMan was found targeting Triconex safety controllers. CISA's analysis says it could modify the controllers' in-memory firmware. [10] An SIS is the last layer before an incident, so it gets its own zone and its own rules.
CFATS, as of October 2026. The statutory authority for the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards expired July 28, 2023. CISA's CFATS page still says it cannot enforce compliance, and encourages facilities to keep security measures in place and use its voluntary ChemLock resources. [3]
Chemical plants on the water. A plant with a marine terminal that has a Facility Security Plan under 33 CFR 105 is also under the Coast Guard cyber rule, 33 CFR 101 Subpart F. The Cybersecurity Assessment and Plan are due July 16, 2027. [14] See USCG Regulated Sector.
6 groups and 15 systems. Open a group to see where assessment, remediation, and monitoring apply.
Industrial automation and control systems
Zones and conduits, security levels, and requirements for asset owners, integrators, and suppliers. The standard to write into machine builder and integrator contracts. [4]
Guide to OT security
NIST's guide to securing OT, including manufacturing and process control. It covers architecture, risk management, and how OT differs from IT. [5]
Voluntary framework, any sector
Six functions, including Govern. A good structure for the program and for board reporting. [6]
CSF 2.0 Manufacturing Profile
Applies CSF 2.0 to manufacturing. Still an initial public draft; the comment period closed Nov. 17, 2025. [7]
Safety instrumented systems, process industry
The functional safety standard for SIS, adopted in the U.S. through the ISA84 committee. Security work on an SIS has to respect the safety lifecycle. [8,9]
High-risk chemical facilities
Congress let the statutory authority for CFATS expire. CISA says it cannot enforce CFATS, and it encourages facilities to keep their security measures and use its voluntary ChemLock resources. [3]
CISA's Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals are a reasonable baseline for a plant that has no regulator asking. [13]
Start with one plant. Plants built to the same standard usually share the same findings.
| Assess | Remediate | Monitor | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System group | OT assessment | Architecture review | Pen testing (staging) | Standards gap | Segmentation, hardening | Secure remote access | Roadmap, policy | 24x7 monitoring | IR, tabletops |
| PLCs and DCSControllers, HMI, SCADA | |||||||||
| Engineering workstationsProgramming and downloads | |||||||||
| Safety instrumented systemsSIS, BMS, safety PLCs | |||||||||
| Robotics and motionRobot cells, drives, vision | |||||||||
| Batch, MES, historiansRecipes, records, data | |||||||||
| UtilitiesPower, air, steam, cooling | |||||||||
| Vendors and contractorsRemote access, laptops, USB | |||||||||
Active testing on a running line or a live SIS can trip it. Test on staging systems or during a planned outage.
The process safety team owns the SIS and its safety lifecycle. They are in the room before anyone touches it.
Machine builders and integrators often hold remote access to the line. Their access is part of the plant's risk.
Numbers match the bracketed citations on this page. Sources checked Oct. 4, 2026.
Start with one plant, plant-safe, with operations and process safety in the room. +1.877.387.7733 · info@redtigersecurity.com
