Incident Identification Workshop
Find the automation incidents hiding inside “equipment failures.”
On its own, or as the start of the Annual Service.
Start here if you want a lower-commitment way to test the ACS approach. The same Workshop is the onboarding component of the Annual Service.
See how the Annual Service continues the workStep 1 · Workshop
Standalone, on-site engagement
Step 2 · Annual Service
Begins with this Workshop, then continues all year
What your team learns, and what you leave with.
What your team learns
- 01Recognize patterns in sensors, actuators, calibration, control logic, communications and process behavior.
- 02Separate engineering causes from network-attack assumptions.
- 03Improve incident classification and root-cause discussion.
What you leave with
- 01A trained internal group
- 02Identified incident patterns
- 03Findings and recommendations
- 04A clearer picture of where automation risk is showing up in operations
What the Workshop finds
Most organizations have already had control system incidents. They were just diagnosed as equipment failures.
How it works.
- 01
Intro Call
Understand your scope, systems, and the events prompting the engagement.
- 02
Scoping & Scheduling
Agree the agenda, participants, and on-site dates; finalize the engagement plan.
- 03
On-site Delivery
A hands-on, train-the-trainers day working through real incidents with your team.
- 04
Report & Recommendations
Documented findings, root-cause patterns, and the gaps to close.
- 05
Follow-up
Availability for questions as your team applies what they learned.
The people closest to the process.
A cross-functional group from operations, engineering, safety and security. Because it’s a train-the-trainers workshop, they leave ready to teach the rest of your team.
- Operations
- Operators and plant managers, who are usually first to notice that the process is behaving oddly.
- Engineering
- Instrumentation, controls and process engineers, who know how the process should behave.
- Safety and reliability
- Safety, risk and reliability staff, who investigate incidents and close out root causes.
- Security
- OT and IT security staff, who need to separate engineering causes from network-attack assumptions.
Urban Utility and the Hidden Risk of Non-IP ICS Failures
Engineering expertise, operational testing and control-system incident history reveal risks that conventional cybersecurity programs overlook.
- Problem
- A utility known for reliability saw its largest plant shut down because of an electronic connection to one of its vendors.
- Finding
- The challenge was not simply an IP-network cybersecurity problem: engineering-based, physics-based failure modes were being missed.
- Consequence
- ACS helped develop security and safety policies for its electric and water operations, and the utility became one of only two utility test sites in the United States.
Questions about the Workshop.
How does the Workshop relate to the Annual Service?
The Workshop can stand alone as a lower-commitment way to test the ACS approach. It is also the onboarding component of the Annual Service, which continues the work with the ACS annual incident report, sector comparison, notifications, periodic reviews, and year-round access to ACS expertise.
What does delivery look like?
It's delivered on-site as a train-the-trainers session with a cross-functional group from operations, engineering, safety and security, working through real incidents together.
Is this a cybersecurity incident-response workshop?
No. The Workshop is about identifying ICS automation incidents: problems in sensors, actuators, calibration, control logic, communications, and process behavior that are routinely written off as equipment failures.
What affects the cost?
Scope drives it: plant size, number of systems, participants, and travel. Request a 20-minute Incident Review for a quote tailored to your site.
Discuss a Workshop in a 20-minute Incident Review.
Tell us about your site and your team. ACS will reply within one business day to set up a short conversation about whether the Workshop fits, on its own or as the start of the Annual Service.
What happens next
- 01
We reply
ACS reviews your request and replies within one business day.
- 02
You pick a time
Choose a slot for the 20-minute conversation, right after you submit or from our reply.
- 03
You get a clear answer
Leave knowing whether the Workshop, the Annual Service, or neither fits, and what the next step would be.