Securing Operational Technology (OT) systems

Frost and Sullivan together with Applied Risk have published an eye-lighting report regarding the methods to be implemented by critical infrastructures in their Operational Technology (OT) environments in order to ensure cyber resilience to prevent the catastrophic consequences a cyber-attack on these essential businesses might have.

The report starts with a quick overview on the many challenges OT systems are facing, from individual malicious actors to nation-funded organizations, critical infrastructure organizations worldwide are struggling with a varied-front cyber war, forcing them to constantly fortify their cyber resilience.

The discussed report sets-out 6 main essential habits critical organizations should pay attention to:

On top of the above main principles for OT cybersecurity, the report states that above-all organizations must set the seal on their critical assets’ visibility: “Visibility is a fundamental and critical security control for an OT security programme. Establishing comprehensive OT visibility requires creating up-to-date asset inventory and network drawings.”. Frost & Sullivan along with Applied Risk sustain that securing organizations’ visibility will help them in raising awareness to their equipment and processes’ status, so they can adopt best practices to reduce the menacing vulnerabilities they suffer from.

However, visibility is not the only game in town, as the report mentions monitoring as yet another serious aspect when protecting OT systems. The report claims that monitoring the OT assets we have “…serves a regulatory reporting function, augments the security team’s visibility in the environment, protects assets, and ensures adherence to security policies and regulations.”.

Link to read the full report: New White Paper Sets Out Blueprint for Sustainable Operational Technology Security Programmes as Cyber Threats to Industrial Operations Rise (frost.com)