The technological integration of IT&OT networks due to digital transformation leverages data and analytics to provide innovative capabilities, interconnected systems, and streamlined efficiencies. This convergence has also expanded the attack surface leading to new risks. Digital success will depend more on robust security strategies and approaches as industrial connectedness is bound to proliferate exponentially. Be it discovering existing security weaknesses or foreseeing future risks; enterprises feel the need to have next-gen proactive security solutions and capabilities to ensure total visibility & enable risk management for strengthening their ability to combat complex attacks.
Industrial OT Security Challenges
Increasing number of malicious actors targeting the OT/IIOT domain
Minimal visibility into the security posture of OT assets
Legacy defense mechanisms are easily bypassed by complex, malicious entities
Improper implementation/utilization of existing security controls
Complex, heterogeneous, and in-secure by design nature of industrial networks
Unawareness on how to use Threat Intelligence (TI) to enable security operations team readiness
Shortage of qualified ICS/OT security resources & manpower
Lack of security awareness amongst staff members
Key Security Risks in OT
Lack of comprehensive visibility and monitoring of OT assets
Lack of OT systems visibility and continuous monitoring can put the entire OT ecosystem at risk of operational breakdown. Security incidents can happen due to the inability to know vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and root-cause of incidents.
Absence of change control process for configuration management
Unauthorized or incorrect changes can cause misconfigurations in ICS/OT systems, leading to compliance violations posing a risk to the operational stability, safety, and security of these systems.
Insider threat and human errors
Systems might get compromised by unauthorized or incorrectly configured firmware or hardware by employees or external personnel. Employees can (unintentionally) install malware through phishing emails or insert USB devices into their IT/OT systems.
Malware and ransomware infection through the internet or intranet
Internet exposed OT assets or infected IT systems can pose severe malware and ransomware threats to the OT environment, potentially causing production downtime, loss of sensitive intellectual property, environmental incidents etc.
End-to-End Aujas services to secure OT&IT environments
OT Firewalls & Network Architecture Review
OT Firewalls Review
Perform review in context to existing OT environment
Follow industry practices, secure design principles, compliance & benchmarks
Access policies and rules misconfigurations, rules duplication & repetition
Access or deny logs, security updates
Unwanted object rules definition
Improper implementation of DMZ isolation, network segmentation/zoning configuration
OT Network Architecture Review
Perform review based on authentication & access control, remote access, network segmentation, endpoints & network security, and logs management
Use available technical documents from existing network architecture layout, and workshops/discussions with the OT engineers
Combine the collated knowledge with the assets inventory, network mappings & its visualizations based on the Purdue model from the OT platforms to detect flaws, attack vectors/paths, or misconfigurations
OT Security Management Platform Design & Implementation
Set-up OT security management platform through secure-by-design approach
Assess gaps in processes, technical and procedure related controls
Evaluate through OT management platforms to discover devices, vulnerabilities & misconfigurations, attack vectors, unauthorized connections doing non-intrusive packet mirroring through a configured SPAN port/TAP points in OT network switches
OT Managed Security Services
Continuous Threat Management Services
24x7x365 and prioritized security risks & threats detection & monitoring, incident response & management services using Aujas Cyber Defense Center (CDC)
Proactively identify and manage incidents by detecting OT protocols & policy violations, industrial malware, network anomalies, and operational issues of OT network, based on industry standard framework such as NIST for incident response & management
Deliver threat intelligence feeds curated for industrial security and IOC/hypothesis driven threat hunting capabilities across OT domain
Administer and manage the entire lifecycle of the OT security management platform
Deliver threats & operational alerts, incidents, and compliance reporting on a daily/weekly/monthly basis
Success Story - Leading Cement Manufacturing Company
Leading cement manufacturing company in India with an installed capacity of 100+ million tons per annum having multiple manufacturing plants across the globe has initiated an OT security program to secure OT devices and underlying infrastructure. The program included OT devices & infrastructure security, security architecture review, security assessments, and process audits.
Business Problem
The client wanted to assess the current security posture of their OT devices, infrastructure, and processes. Aujas team helped the client to evaluate the current security posture through the below services:
Deployment of Microsoft Defender for IoT (CyberX) to assess the OT devices
OT Security Architecture Review
OT Firewall Review
The team used IEC62443/ISA 99 standards to perform these activities and uncovered security risks in OT devices and underlying infrastructure. Aujas’s outcome-based security framework helped the client enhance security processes, securing OT devices and infrastructure through remediation of reported vulnerabilities.
Solution Components
OT Security Assessment
Aujas deployed and configured Microsoft Defender for IoT (CyberX) sensor at strategic locations in the client OT network identified after reviewing the plant architecture to capture traffic passively without hampering the regular plant activities.
Aujas successfully provided the client with a full view of their security posture by using a patented traffic analysis technology of the OT security management platform.
The client benefited from this activity by getting a detailed inventory listing of all the devices connected in the monitored network along with their interactions, protocols used, vulnerability status, potential attack surface, and remediation advisory for all in-scope site’s OT assets.
OT Architecture Review
Aujas did OT landscape review in discussion with OT & network team and technical stakeholders.
Provided client with a report on OT network architecture review with advisory on identified risks, gaps, and recommendations for improvements.
OT Firewall Review
Aujas reviewed the client firewalls and provided them with a report on OT firewall review with advisory on identified firewalls misconfigurations, excessive configured rules access, and recommendations for improvements.
