Blog
Blog
Technical insights, industry news and updates from the world of industrial automation.
Cyber Resilience Act for machine builders: who it affects and what to do
EU Regulation 2024/2847 introduces cybersecurity obligations for products with digital elements. For industrial machine builders the topic is far from abstract: it covers PLCs, HMIs, gateways, connected sensors and the software that ships with them.
OPC UA on the plant floor: real benefits and security implications
Practical differences between OPC DA and OPC UA, client/server and pub/sub communication models, certificate-based security, firewall and segmentation impact, and real adoption limits on existing plants.
OT backup and disaster recovery: what to actually save in a Siemens plant
A technical guide on what to include in backups for a Siemens-based plant, how to structure OT disaster recovery, and which mistakes to avoid so you can actually recover after a failure or incident.
Hardening an engineering station running TIA Portal
How to properly secure a TIA Portal engineering workstation: OS hardening, user management, project protection, application whitelisting, patch management, PLC access control, and backup.
Secure remote access to industrial plants: common mistakes and proper architecture
How remote access to industrial plants actually works in practice, which mistakes keep showing up, and how to build an access architecture that is manageable, traceable and compatible with OT operations.
OT network segmentation: how to separate PLCs, HMIs, SCADA and maintenance access
A technical guide to industrial network segmentation: zones, conduits, DMZ, PLC/HMI/SCADA traffic separation and maintenance access management in real plants.
IEC 62443 explained for system integrators and OEMs
A technical guide to the IEC 62443 series: structure of parts 1-x through 4-x, Security Levels, zones and conduits, roles of asset owner, integrator and vendor, and what it means in practice for those who design and deliver industrial systems.
NIS2 for OT: a practical checklist for industrial plants
A practical guide to what NIS2 really requires in OT and which priority controls to implement across PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, engineering workstations and remote access.
TIA Portal V21: verified new features of the latest Siemens release
A verified overview of TIA Portal V21: SIMATIC SD and Git-oriented workflows, engineering change tracking, new STEP 7 and Safety features, S7-1200 G2 support, WinCC Unified Redundancy and Data Hub.
Git and TIA Portal: a practical, verified guide to PLC project version control
How to use Git with TIA Portal correctly: Version Control Interface, workspaces, SIMATIC SD, real limitations, and links to official Siemens manuals.