Introduction

Cracking units are critical processing systems within petrochemical facilities, where hydrocarbon feedstocks are converted into valuable products such as ethylene, propylene, and other petrochemical intermediates. These operations involve highly controlled conditions, including elevated temperatures, pressures, feed rates, furnace conditions, flow rates, and separation parameters.

Modern cracking units rely heavily on Operational Technology (OT) systems, including Distributed Control Systems (DCS), SCADA, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs), Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), Emergency Shutdown (ESD) systems, sensors, actuators, engineering workstations, historians, industrial servers, and industrial communication networks.

Because these systems influence physical processes, a cybersecurity incident affecting a cracking unit could potentially result in unauthorized process changes, loss of monitoring capabilities, equipment disruption, production downtime, product-quality issues, environmental consequences, or safety risks.

The increasing connectivity between OT environments and enterprise IT networks can also create additional attack pathways. Remote maintenance, engineering access, third-party connections, industrial gateways, and data-transfer systems can introduce cybersecurity exposure into critical petrochemical operations.

A structured OT Security Assessment helps petrochemical facilities identify weaknesses across cracking-unit control systems, industrial networks, access controls, remote connectivity, and supporting infrastructure while considering process safety and operational continuity.

Netherlands Regulatory and Cybersecurity Considerations

For petrochemical cracking facilities, security assessments can therefore be aligned with IEC 62443 and other applicable cybersecurity and industrial security practices.

Relevant references may include:

• NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
• NIST SP 800-82 for Industrial Control Systems.
• IEC 62443 for Industrial Automation and Control Systems.
• ISO/IEC 27001 where applicable.
• Relevant petrochemical, process-safety, environmental, and industrial requirements.

The exact regulatory scope should be determined according to the organization’s activities, size, sector, criticality, services, infrastructure, and applicable Dutch and European requirements.

Importance of OT Security Assessment for Petrochemical Cracking Units

1. Protecting Cracking Unit Control Systems

Cracking processes require precise control of feed rates, furnace temperatures, pressure, flow, residence time, steam ratios, and other operating parameters.

DCS platforms, PLCs, HMIs, sensors, and other control components work together to maintain these conditions.

An OT Security Assessment helps identify weaknesses that could allow unauthorized access, manipulation, or disruption of critical control systems.

2. Protecting Critical Process Parameters

Unauthorized modification of cracking-unit parameters could potentially affect:

• Furnace temperature.
• Feed flow.
• Operating pressure.
• Steam-to-hydrocarbon ratios.
• Residence time.
• Product flow.
• Cooling systems.
• Separation conditions.

Protecting the integrity of these parameters is essential for process stability, product quality, equipment protection, and safe operations.

3. Securing SCADA and ICS Environments

SCADA and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) can provide monitoring, control, visualization, and data-collection capabilities across petrochemical operations.

Potential weaknesses may include:

• Weak authentication.
• Excessive privileges.
• Outdated operating systems.
• Unsupported software.
• Insecure communication protocols.
• Poor network segmentation.
• Unnecessary services.
• Insufficient logging.
• Exposed industrial interfaces.

A SCADA and ICS security assessment helps identify these weaknesses and establish practical remediation priorities.

4. Protecting Process Safety

Cracking units operate under demanding conditions and may involve highly flammable hydrocarbons, high temperatures, elevated pressures, and hazardous process materials.

Safety Instrumented Systems, Emergency Shutdown systems, alarms, sensors, and protective controls can therefore play an important role in maintaining safe operations.

An OT security assessment can examine the cybersecurity controls surrounding these environments while ensuring that testing is appropriately controlled and does not unnecessarily interfere with safety-critical operations.

5. Reducing IT-OT Connectivity Risks

Modern petrochemical facilities increasingly connect OT environments with IT systems for:

• Production reporting.
• Enterprise resource planning.
• Maintenance management.
• Analytics.
• Inventory management.
• Asset monitoring.
• Business intelligence.

An OT Risk Assessment can evaluate:

• IT-OT segmentation.
• Industrial DMZs.
• Firewall configurations.
• Network zones.
• External connections.
• Remote access pathways.
• Data-transfer mechanisms.

6. Securing Remote and Third-Party Access

Petrochemical facilities may depend on automation vendors, equipment manufacturers, system integrators, engineering companies, and maintenance providers.

Poorly controlled remote access can introduce potential pathways into cracking-unit control environments.

An OT Vulnerability Assessment can assess:

• VPN connections.
• Remote desktop services.
• Privileged accounts.
• Vendor accounts.
• Jump servers.
• Authentication controls.
• Session management.
• Access restrictions.

7. Supporting Production Continuity

Unexpected disruption to a cracking unit can affect upstream and downstream petrochemical operations.

Potential consequences can include:

• Production downtime.
• Unplanned shutdowns.
• Product losses.
• Equipment stress.
• Increased recovery costs.
• Supply-chain disruption.

A structured OT Security Assessment helps identify vulnerabilities that could contribute to operational disruption and enables security teams to prioritize remediation according to business and process impact.

8. Improving Recovery Readiness

OT environments require recovery plans that account for control-system dependencies and industrial operating conditions.

Security assessments can examine:

• DCS backups.
• PLC configurations.
• Engineering workstation backups.
• Historian data.
• Critical control configurations.
• Recovery procedures.
• Incident response processes.

Because OT systems can have long lifecycles and may require specialized recovery procedures, establishing appropriate recovery capabilities is an important part of OT resilience.

Our OT Security Assessment Methodology

1. OT Asset Identification and Scope Definition

The assessment begins by identifying the OT assets supporting the cracking unit and associated petrochemical processes.

Depending on the facility, this may include:

• DCS platforms.
• SCADA systems.
• PLCs.
• HMIs.
• Engineering workstations.
• Safety Instrumented Systems.
• Emergency Shutdown systems.
• Historians.
• Sensors and actuators.
• Industrial switches and routers.
• Firewalls.
• OT servers.
• Remote access infrastructure.

Asset criticality, connectivity, functionality, ownership, and operational dependency are considered when defining the assessment scope.

2. OT Network Architecture Review

The industrial network architecture is reviewed to understand how cracking-unit control systems communicate with other plant and enterprise environments.

The review may examine:

• IT-OT segmentation.
• Industrial DMZs.
• Firewall placement.
• Firewall rules.
• VLANs.
• Network zones and conduits.
• External connections.
• Remote access.
• Unnecessary communication routes.

The objective is to identify potential pathways through which a compromised system could reach critical OT assets.

3. OT Vulnerability Assessment

A structured OT Vulnerability Assessment identifies technical and configuration weaknesses across in-scope industrial systems.

Activities may include:

• Vulnerability identification.
• Software and firmware review.
• Patch-level assessment.
• Configuration analysis.
• Authentication review.
• Security hardening assessment.
• Unsupported-system identification.
• Exposure analysis.
• Unnecessary service identification.

Because OT systems can be sensitive to intrusive testing, passive discovery and controlled assessment techniques can be selected according to operational risk.

4. OT Penetration Testing

Where explicitly authorized and technically appropriate, OT Penetration Testing can be conducted to validate identified security weaknesses.

Testing is carefully scoped around:

• Production requirements.
• Cracking-unit operating conditions.
• Critical controllers.
• Safety systems.
• Maintenance windows.
• Potential system instability.

The objective is to validate realistic security exposure while minimizing the risk of operational disruption.

5. Access Control Assessment

User accounts, privileged accounts, engineering access, vendor accounts, and remote access permissions are reviewed.

The assessment can identify:

• Excessive privileges.
• Shared accounts.
• Dormant accounts.
• Weak authentication.
• Inadequate privilege separation.
• Uncontrolled vendor access.
• Insufficient access monitoring.

6. Security Configuration Review

Security configurations across relevant OT infrastructure are assessed against applicable organizational requirements and recognized industrial cybersecurity practices.

This may include:

• Firewall configurations.
• Network device security.
• Endpoint hardening.
• System configurations.
• Logging and monitoring.
• Backup controls.
• Removable media controls.
• Application controls.
• Patch management.

7. Risk Analysis and Reporting

Identified findings are analyzed according to technical severity, exploitability, asset criticality, and potential operational impact.

The final report can include:

• Vulnerability details.
• Affected assets.
• Risk ratings.
• Supporting evidence.
• Potential operational impact.
• Recommended remediation.
• Security improvement priorities.

This provides petrochemical operators, engineering teams, and security teams with a practical roadmap for strengthening OT security.

Cyberintelsys OT Security Testing Services

Cyberintelsys supports organizations in evaluating cybersecurity risks across industrial and operational environments.

1. OT Security Testing

OT Security Testing evaluates the security posture of industrial control environments and identifies weaknesses that could affect cracking-unit operations.

The assessment may cover:

• OT network architecture.
• Industrial control systems.
• Servers and workstations.
• Network devices.
• Remote access.
• Security configurations.
• Vulnerability exposure.
• Access controls.

2. SCADA Security Assessment

A SCADA Security Assessment focuses on SCADA and ICS environments used to monitor and control industrial processes.

It can evaluate:

• SCADA servers.
• HMIs.
• Engineering workstations.
• PLC communications.
• Authentication.
• Network segmentation.
• Industrial communication protocols.
• Security configurations.

3. IEC 62443 Compliance Services

Organizations seeking to strengthen industrial cybersecurity can use IEC 62443 Compliance Services to assess security gaps against applicable IEC 62443 requirements.

The assessment can help address:

• Industrial network segmentation.
• Security zones and conduits.
• Access control.
• System hardening.
• Security management.
• Risk assessment.
• Industrial cybersecurity processes.

4. OT Vulnerability Assessment

An OT Vulnerability Assessment identifies known vulnerabilities, outdated components, insecure configurations, exposed services, and other weaknesses within the industrial environment.

Findings can be prioritized according to asset criticality and potential impact on petrochemical production.

5. OT Penetration Testing

OT Penetration Testing provides controlled validation of security weaknesses within an approved scope.

Testing can help determine whether identified vulnerabilities could realistically be exploited and provide evidence to support remediation decisions.

6. OT Risk Assessment

An OT Risk Assessment evaluates cybersecurity risks in the context of cracking-unit operations, critical assets, process safety, production continuity, and business impact.

This helps organizations prioritize cybersecurity investments according to actual operational risk.

Why Choose Cyberintelsys?

Petrochemical cracking facilities require a cybersecurity approach that recognizes the differences between conventional IT systems and OT environments where process safety, equipment integrity, production continuity, product quality, and environmental protection are essential.

Cyberintelsys is a CREST-accredited cybersecurity company for Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and Penetration Testing (PT), delivering industry-recognized security testing services for organizations across multiple sectors.

Key benefits include:

• OT-focused assessment: Security testing considers the unique characteristics of industrial control environments.
• Risk-based approach: Findings are prioritized according to technical severity, asset criticality, and potential operational impact.
• Framework alignment: Assessments can be aligned with IEC 62443, NIST, and other applicable security practices.
• Controlled testing: Assessment activities are planned to minimize unnecessary impact on production and safety-critical systems.
• Detailed reporting: Findings include evidence, affected assets, risk explanations, and practical recommendations.
• Remediation guidance: Security teams receive actionable recommendations for addressing identified weaknesses.
• CREST-accredited expertise: VA and PT activities are delivered through an industry-recognized security testing capability.

Contact Cyberintelsys

Petrochemical cracking units in the Netherlands operate complex industrial environments where cybersecurity, process safety, equipment reliability, product quality, environmental protection, and production continuity are closely connected.

A structured OT Security Assessment can help organizations identify vulnerabilities across SCADA, ICS, DCS, PLCs, Safety Instrumented Systems, industrial networks, remote access, engineering workstations, and supporting infrastructure.

Organizations can strengthen their industrial security posture through OT Security Testing, OT Vulnerability Assessment, OT Penetration Testing, and OT Risk Assessment aligned with applicable Dutch and European cybersecurity requirements and industrial security practices.

Contact Cyberintelsys to assess your petrochemical cracking-unit OT environment, identify critical security gaps, strengthen industrial cybersecurity, and support applicable compliance and resilience requirements.