Examining Global Best Practices for Stronger OT Security

Summary

An upswing of cyberattacks have occurred worldwide the past couple of years in part due to OT systems' growing connectedness to the rest of the world (and the fact that these systems have become bigger targets for bad actors.) These days, the coexistence of gauges, sensors, control systems and meters from many providers–and connected to the network–increases process efficiency yet also widens the attack surface.
 
For an organization to succeed, it’s essential to stay ahead of developing cyber risks. CISOs at leading industrial companies must consider cybersecurity as a vital element of their plans for digital transformation. Based on what we’ve seen, there are some key best practices that global organizations are using to reduce cyber risks and improve operational efficiencies.
 

Informing decisions with proactive threat intelligence

Cybersecurity requires a collaborative, team approach. Make sure you have outside sources for exchanging intelligence and that automated threat feeds are providing your enterprise with preventative and actionable intelligence. Attack information is being gathered on a worldwide scale, providing industrial organizations with visibility into the actual dangers they are up against. This information includes threats from web attack vectors, the network, email apps and endpoint IOT devices.

Only 57% of firms reported achieving Level 3 or Level 4 OT security maturity in a recent study. Improving your organization's security maturity level involves anticipating the behaviors of attackers and preparing for them by having insight into the threat landscape. So, how do you do that? Part of this may involve working with a partner that can provide your organization with dedicated threat intelligence and information about known vulnerabilities in OT environments.
 

Using segmentation and micro segmentation

By 2025, IDC expects that 41.6 billion IoT devices will be connected. This evolution necessitates network segmentation–acknowledged by CISA as a best practice–and hardening organizational boundaries. All of these strategies aim to lower the possibility of an OT intrusion that can result from an IT security incident.
Network segmentation apportions a network into smaller segments or subnets. Each of these segments acts as its own separate, distinct network. As a result, security professionals have more control over the traffic entering the company’s systems.

Network segmentation benefits enterprises in a variety of ways. It enhances security by stopping attacks from propagating throughout a network and entering vulnerable devices. Segmentation prevents malware from spreading into other corporate systems when an attack occurs. It also lessens congestion, which frequently causes performance decline. This is crucial for resource-intensive services like factories, power plants, oil rigs, water treatment facilities and other industrial settings.

Due of the possibility of unintentionally disrupting a production process during segmentation, the effort to segment the network can be particularly challenging in an OT context. Temporarily losing a device may not have much of an effect on company operations in an IT context, but downtime can have serious damaging effects in an OT setting. When trying to segment an environment with devices from many providers, the difficulties may increase. It is possible to successfully segment your network, as well as further divide it to take advantage of microsegmentation, if you have the correct tools and processes.

In order to provide lateral views of all assets in a given broadcast domain, security architects can further segment an environment using the network security approach known as microsegmentation. They can get more granular by logically segmenting the network environment into unique security slices, all the way down to the level of a single task. Since even specific workloads have policies applied to them, microsegmentation increases attack resistance and, in the event of a breach, inhibits the attacker’s ability to migrate from one compromised application to another.

 
Trust nothing and layer your defenses with zero trust

Organizations must adopt a zero trust mentality to properly address OT security matters. Zero trust is not a tool that you purchase but a philosophy that you embrace. It is composed of all the fundamental tools and technologies, but they come to exist everywhere and at all times throughout the network. Multifactor authentication, network access, endpoint security and identity and access management are part of the zero trust framework.

Strict identity verification is essential in a zero trust architecture for every person and device trying to access your network and apps. It doesn’t matter if the user or device is inside or outside the network border; this verification still holds true. Role-based access can also reduce the impact of compromised user accounts. Changes to a device’s location, which device is used, the frequency of login attempts and the number of failed login attempts can all be used to initiate user or device identity validation.

Solutions for zero-trust access safeguard endpoints, the cloud, users and devices. Sadly, some organizations basically tempting hackers to invade. Take the 64% of manufacturers, for instance, who have not implemented a network access control (NAC) solution.
 
Zero trust is part of the strategy of reducing organization risk with layered defense. Both current and potential hazards must be anticipated and prepared for. Act as though there has already been a breach. If you want the best outcomes, categorize your preparedness into three sections: prevent, minimize and remediate. Having an automated response in place for when a breach happens is an element of this preparation. You'll save time and money by doing this.

Embracing resilient OT security: A blueprint for success

In an era of escalating cyber threats against connected OT systems, industrial landscapes must adapt for survival. The integration of many devices, while enhancing business efficiency, exposes vulnerabilities. Recognizing that cybersecurity is an integral facet of digital transformation, forward-thinking security teams are taking the lead. Proactive threat intelligence sharing, network segmentation and adopting a zero-trust ethos emerge as key pillars in bolstering OT security. In the newly connected OT environment, the path to success lies in resilient, collaborative and comprehensive cybersecurity strategies.