I have been seeing quite a number of references lately to the terms “cyber ready” and “cyber readiness.” Some of these references reflect an enterprise view of readiness – defined as “…the state of being able to detect and effectively respond to computer security breaches and intrusions, malware attacks, phishing attacks, theft of data and […]
Operational Technology
Cybersecurity has played second fiddle to safety for OT systems, if it has been considered at all. This is changing, however, with the integration of IP networking and the adoption of other standardized protocols in OT. Now, cybersecurity, with the ability of cyber-attacks to produce physical world results, is becoming essential to safety. Find out about the latest research trends and standards for OT systems cybersecurity. Learn about the emerging products to secure OT systems, IoT systems and IIoT systems and how each of these technology groups differ in security approach. Find out about some of the threat trends that are affecting our critical infrastructure, and discover how the Purdue Model is changing with the addition of boundaryless computing, movement to the cloud and 5G, employment of autonomous systems, and distributed ledger technology.

My journey into OT security has led me to the question of can we safely operate automated security orchestration platforms in an OT environment or a converged OT/IT environment? I mean many OT systems are already highly automated operations. What are the ramifications of providing security responses in a highly automated manner? I learned that […]

This election year spurred me into researching the cyber resilience of OT / IoT systems, of which electronic election systems are a subset. I discovered there was quite a bit of synergy between cyber resilience and mod-sim. As I explored the relationship I became convinced that any OT or IoT system of consequence could significantly […]

A Plethora of Standards and Guidance for OT / IoT Security In my research into OT and IoT systems security, I have come across a plethora of guidance and standards from various organizations and standards bodies. To some extent, this wide range of guidance is difficult to get your arms around to figure out what […]

My most recent article discussed the first 5 of my top 10 recommended security capabilities for OT and IIoT systems. Here they are again for your reference. Capability 1: Real-time visibility and compliance tracking of assets that may have limited function and power Capability 2: Real-time anomaly detection including increased use of AI/ML technology and […]

My Top 10 Security Capability Recommendations for 2020 As reported in a previous article here at ActiveCyber.net, there are some major trends that are affecting the OT systems of today and the rollout of new IIoT systems of tomorrow. One key trend is the security, or rather, insecurity of OT and IIoT systems is increasing. […]

A Growing Security Threat Against Critical Infrastructure In 2009 there were less than a billion IoT devices in use. According to Statista, that number is expected to increase to more than 20 billion by 2020 and continue to grow at a rapid pace. Besides a growing number of devices, there are multiple, varied, and connected […]

Industry 4.0 Ushers In the Age of Digitalization Industry 4.0, or the fourth wave of the Industrial Revolution, leverages connectivity and autonomous operation to create robust Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications that will work in conjunction with legacy Operational Technology (OT). Industry 4.0 can be summed up as the digitalization of everything industrial. This includes digitalization […]

Over the past few years, I have been hearing a lot about the security issues and, therefore, the security requirements for Operational Technology (OT), as well as for the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Experts often describe these security issues as fundamentally different from Information Technology (IT) security challenges. I felt that these differences should […]
