{"id":58623,"date":"2022-09-21T16:15:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T08:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/version-2.com\/?p=58623"},"modified":"2022-12-02T18:13:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T10:13:45","slug":"enhancing-ot-security-without-disrupting-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/version-2.com\/zh\/2022\/09\/enhancing-ot-security-without-disrupting-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Enhancing OT Security Without Disrupting Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/p>

What is Operational Technology?<\/h3>

Cybersecurity has come a long way in the recent past. Its importance is felt in all aspects of modern life, both personal and industrial. The current digital and network advancements are steadily pushing Information Technology (IT) and <\/span>Operational Technology<\/span><\/a> (OT) towards integration. While IT systems interact with each other for data-centric computing, OT systems involve hardware and software that monitors or controls physical devices and processes to detect or cause changes in an industrial environment or enterprise.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

OT plays a significant role in Industrial Control Systems (<\/span>ICS<\/span><\/a>) and encompasses a wide variety of programmable systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems (<\/span>SCADA<\/span><\/a>) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS). These are found in many aspects of the environments we interact with daily, which makes keeping these systems secure a top priority. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Industrial systems traditionally have relied on human monitoring and management through proprietary control protocols and software. Today, however, more industrial systems are automating these processes in a bid to boost efficiency and deliver better and smarter analytics through the convergence of OT and IT systems. This fills in the \u00a0gap that previously that isolated OT from IT. This bridge ensures that the information passed down to the people, sensors, devices, and machines is accurate and on time. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

How IoT Adoption Affects OT Systems<\/h3>

Anyone who has been around long enough to see how the internet and modern technology have changed the world can attest to its benefits. The shift to making most aspects of human life \u2018smart\u2019 has had both positive and negative effects. In a bid to make OT systems more efficient and reliable, most people have adopted integrated enterprise software and analytic data services. This makes processes and systems such as cooling efficient and also monitoring devices easy and more cost-effective.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

This action comes with one main downside; an increase in security risks. The connection of these systems leaves industrial networks and components vulnerable to OT security deficiencies such as lack of encryption, buffer overflow, backdoors and other tailored attacks on physical components.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The digital attack surface also grows massively. For instance, in a configuration where things go through a switch, it would be difficult to monitor the traffic or detect changes. This makes the network vulnerable to targeted attacks. Some economies or communities could face utter devastation should their industrial systems be attacked due to the high cost of some of the industrial equipment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

On the brighter side, industrial networks can be protected without risking non-compliance or <\/span>disruption of operations<\/span>. While IT security deals with data flow and its protection, <\/span>OT security<\/span> is focused on the safety and efficiency of industrial operations. By implementing proper security strategies and policies that ensure the visibility of all network control traffic, you can effectively reduce security risks and protect operations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Modern OT Security Approaches<\/h3>

The integration of OT and IT systems has led to the development of OT security. This is done in a bid to protect lives and assets and ensure that there is no operating downtime leading to production losses. The common standards and practices for secure OT systems are detailed by bodies such as The <\/span>National Institute of Standards and Technology<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Center<\/span><\/a>. Their reports have detailed information on OT risk management, vulnerabilities, recommended practices and guidelines. These form the framework for different ways to secure OT systems.<\/span><\/p>

When protecting OT systems, one must first understand the vulnerabilities that they face. Now that OT, IT, and IoT systems have become part of an indistinguishable system, any margins of error could mean a collapse in the whole network. Some of the ways OT networks are compromised by malignant elements include:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>