Watchcom & Tenable @ ONS 2022 - how secure are your OT-systems?
Our critical infrastructure is at risk and OT-systems are openly exposed to unauthorized access. When the industry gathers in Stavanger for ONS, Watchcom and Tenable are there to talk OT-security and help your organisation secure all its assets.
Operational technology (OT) is evolving at increased pace. Technological advancements in manufacturing and critical infrastructure environments increase efficiency and reduce time and cost. However, new initiatives and solutions do not come without risk.
On top of the IT/OT convergence, organizations are rapidly adopting Industry 4.0 technology. In industrial and critical infrastructure environments, this can translate into thousands of devices connected via the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Whilst representing substantial efficiencies and cost savings, without proper security, new attack surfaces and vectors are introduced and OT infrastructure and operations are at risk.
At ONS, Watchcom and Tenable team up to talk IT- and OT-security with the oil, gas and energy industry.
Alongside the growth of IIoT and OT, there is the challenge of maintaining secure environments. As with IT, OT is increasingly victim to security incidents that can impact or fully disable operations, and worst case have devastating human and economic consequenecs. With new attack surfaces and vectors introduced, cyberattacks are now impacting nearly every manufacturing vertical and critical infrastructure environment imaginable.
The reason for the increase in OT environment targeting is simply because they exist and are vulnerable. While historically (physically) separated from the Internet due to «air-gapping», OT security is now undergoing a paradigm shift. Air-gapping is no longer considered a reliable means of security, and our dependency on data and real-time operation and diagnostics lead to a more open and vulnerable threat scenario.
Fortunately, organizations are embracing a more proactive approach to securing their OT environments, especially within the critical areas of identifying and stopping attacks before they occur. A deep situational awareness, identifying communication paths, access information and more, will help highlight weak spots and potential new attacks.
Awareness and raised (digital) security culture will empower the organization, and those working with security, to reduce risk and cyber exposure, strengthening cyber resilience in OT-systems.
Feel free to access and download these selected resources on OT-security, and reach out for a talk or meeting:
