Reimagining OT cybersecurity strategy

Organisations need to reimagine and re-strategise cybersecurity considerations for their OT environment as they embark on their journey of digital transformation and IT−OT integration. Operational Technologies (OT) have become lucrative as attacking them can disrupt operations, affect lives, and stall economies. Hence, protecting these technologies and improving resilience has become a matter of national security and safety.

Digital transformation of the energy and industrial sector

Digital transformation and Industry 4.0 are no longer seen as mere buzzwords. They offer immense potential to companies in the industrial and energy sectors. Whether automating the factory floor, monitoring/operating systems remotely, or using predictive insights for maintenance, newer use cases continue to emerge. While most organisations continue to invest in point solutions, some are also creating digital twins of their factory environment to bring the cyber and physical worlds together in a more systematic and meaningful way.

IT-OT convergence – an enabler and enigma

For improved outcomes, data must be harnessed from operational technologies and made available for enterprise usage, connected to enterprise software, and fed into analytics and AI engines. While the IT−OT integration has several benefits, it also brings along cybersecurity challenges. OT assets that are by and large complex, still work on obsolete versions of operating systems and software, making the OT environment even more vulnerable when converged with IT, thus, reinstating the need to prioritise OT cybersecurity.

Cyberattacks and the vulnerabilities of OT systems

There are rising instances of attacks on organisations with OT systems. The use of legacy systems, lack of proper network segmentation, absence of robust governance, security policies, and monitoring, and unsecure remote access are leading to increased cyber vulnerabilities. As the life span of OT assets is high and some vulnerabilities continue due to legacy issues, a different strategy is required to secure and monitor these OT systems.

Strategising for robust OT security

Before we embrace digital transformation within industrial systems, we need to fully evaluate the scope and the need for IT-OT integration, keeping cyber risks as one of the deciding factors. For achieving this, setting the right governance is key. A joint governance with the senior leadership of IT, security, engineering, and management can provide the appropriate attention and security to OT systems. It can also help better correlate and assess the impact of cyber risks on business operations. The need for specialised OT cybersecurity teams, mapped to the CISO function, are also emerging.

Organisations can consider the given six-point framework to strategise their OT security: