Is anyone buying this? Really...?

I stumbled across this article that, quite honestly, at first pissed me off. After a little reflection, I can only laugh. It reminds me of someone trying too hard to sell those $150, short gold plated digital Monster audio cables - Oxygen free or whatever. (If the engineer inside you doesn't laugh, then cry for the sake of the suckers, read on).

Maybe I read in to far, but I see snakeskin oil vendors grasping for air! The piece is an obvious response to Steve Hechtman's very different article on the same topic (hosted on Control Engineering) - he should be flattered. You see, the big vendors, GE Faunc in this case, but the exact same applies to Wonderware and Rockwell have been long committed to the concept of Historians, a glorified and expensive datalogger that includes, and is only meant to work with, a custom version of Microsoft SQL Server (of all product choices...). The problem is that now much cheaper products from companies like Inductive Automation and Software Toolbox can do a better job using any RDBMS (database) system. Being vendor-neutral, inexpensive add-on packages also do much better for things like trending, reporting, and data analysis. The biggest mistake of the current generation of Historian is that they tried to implement and include everything themselves - like making a giant Swiss Army knife with a spork, usb memory stick, and a wine glass. Now they're caught with their pants down, desperately scrambling to recovery their enourmous sunk costs (my favorite business term).

• You're data is special and requires "plantwide historian" treatment...their example query “What was today’s hourly unit production average compared to where it was a year ago or two years ago?”. I won't even comment...

• Your database needs to speak specialized industrial protocols (OPC) - There's separation of function by design and for a reason. Besides - this doesn't even make sense.
• Faster speeds and higher data compression - no way! The historian is wasting CPU cycles in both directions, which obfuscates your data (can no longer use external applications), to do something better achieved by a RDBMS system that supports it.
• Robust redundancy for high availability - is this a joke? Maybe Amazon.com should migrate their server farms over to GE-flavor SQL Server.
• Enhanced data security - another losing battle for the historian. The white paper mentions SQL injection attacks - all platforms in question can use stored procedures, and are all subject to this sort of attack. When it comes to up to date patching, arguably the most common vulnerability, SCADA vendors have the absolute worst track record! IT keeps their servers patched as a matter of practice - they're typically afraid to touch the SCADA machines. Ultimately, the "do everything" approach provides many attack vectors.
  

I can't blame them for playing their hand. I just wonder - will anyone read this white paper and take it at face value?

Cheating in Online Poker

I just got back from a Las Vegas weekend trip. The poker gods were good on the cheapest ($1/2) tables Bellagio had to offer. My hourly return wasn't impressive, but I had a great time chatting with a variety of gamblers.

One particular story clung. A player said that his "friend" got a chance to witness someone "win" $13k in one night cheating at online poker. I'm not too impressed with the usual tactics, run a background application to gather statistics on opponents or even the recent Absolute Poker cheating scandal. This one caught my attention because it was so simple, yet incomprehensible to catch. You could multiply the benefit with automation/a program, but that's not necessary.

The scam involved playing 5 of 6 simultanious accounts at an online poker table. It shouldn't take a superstar to see that you could easily squeeze out single unsuspecting victims. You could even use a program to obtain more accurate odds since you see 1/5 of the deck. Connection details seemed obvious. I would use proxy services to route via different cities around the world, consistent from each account. The crux of the scam lies in the fact that you can easily create throw away identities - violating the security pricipal of integrity, that you can verify that someone is who they claim. Online gaming sites do monitor IP addresses (defeated with proxies) and users who constantly collaborate. However, you'd be pretty hard to spot with a pool of accounts that get used for short time periods.

What about the penalty if you do get caught? I can't imagine playing multiple online poker accounts getting you in as much trouble as stealing...

The best protection brings inconvenience - closely couple user accounts with real people. That requires you to give up all the personnal info that you don't want to share: valid ID, bank accounts, SSNs, etc. As an online player I'd feel much more safe if the site required heavy verification. Then again, I only play online for "points".

RSDoran, you'll be missed

Ron Doran, a longtime automation expert and friend to many in the field, passed away on December 2nd 2007 from a stroke. Despite his retired status, RSDoran enjoyed helping the newer generation with automation support as evident by his final post count of 7380 since 2002 on plctalk.net.

Ron was a good guy. Sometimes we agreed, other times we argued, but he was always helpful and never one to flame. Phil Melore, the owner of Plctalk, is collecting money for Ron's family. Here are participation details if you're interested. We'll miss you, my friend.