Are there any vulnerabilities in the Zhejiang University Zhongkong DCS system?

Is this a fishing post? Put it this way: any system that uses software has vulnerabilities; the difference lies in whether they have been discovered or not!

It’s not a fishing post – we have a piece of equipment that features interlock-based shutdown functionality; there’s a button on the interface to initiate shutdown. When the interlocks prevent shutdown and no one presses that button, the equipment stops operating. I’m not an expert in instrumentation, so I’m wondering if there are any vulnerabilities in the system, or if anyone else has encountered similar problems during use

Did you not perform any debugging when using it? It could be that the internal logic output of the interlock condition is reversed, or it could be a problem with the circuit

This pot actually ended up on the central control panel{:9015:}

Regarding such issues, DCS doesn’t say that there’s no possibility of problems, but they should be dealt with last in the troubleshooting process. These are no longer vulnerabilities; rather, they represent clear cases of poor quality that render the product completely unusable. Imagine, if it were such an obvious and serious problem, how could the critical equipment in chemical power plants be used? Once such a problem arises, which company would dare to use it?

From the perspective of the instrumentation itself, the first things to check when encountering problems are the electrical wiring and distribution, as well as any possible mistakes in shutting down the system; it’s also necessary to verify whether there are any breaks in the electrical connections. Next, it’s important to check whether there are any breaks in the control cables for the instrumentation. Only after confirming that nothing is wrong in these areas should one consider potential issues with the system itself. Other possibilities include problems with the input/output cards inside the cabinet, signal interference, or errors in the programming design. It’s only after ruling out all these possibilities that it’s possible to determine if there are indeed flaws in the system. Therefore, it’s not appropriate to hastily accuse the central control system of having problems

The probability of a system error is extremely low; the owner should focus on checking the relevant wiring (to see if it is loose or affected by interference) or any faults in the equipment itself. Just a reminder: some aircraft may stop operating accidentally due to interference from walkie-talkies; there are many such cases on our forum, so the original poster can check them out for themselves.

By focusing on checking the cables, terminal blocks, relays and other intermediate control components, as well as electromagnetic interference in the equipment’s interlock control circuits, the probability of DCS failures is extremely low. I have been in this industry for almost 20 years now, and I once encountered a Siemens PLC whose one output terminal was faulty and wasn’t sending any signals.