Sometimes, you can deploy firewalls or physical security measures to segment an asset and prevent an intrusion. In other circumstances, you may have to transition to an entirely new approach—even if that means replacing an otherwise functional segment.
Common ICS Threats
Years ago, the industrial cycle was powered by machines without computational abilities. Therefore, they could not be influenced by secluded hacks, network interruptions, or data exfiltration. However, in the existing industrial landscape, there are several omnipresent threats.
External Threats and Targeted Attacks
Because industrial processes directly impact many people’s health and quality of life, they are often the prey of hacktivists, terrorists, and others seeking detriment.
It requires a defense-in-depth strategy that covers crucial systems from those striving to interrupt or stop necessary procedures. Even a momentary interruption would be adequate to influence the lives of thousands. An outer person or group aims to steal intellectual property, exfiltrate data or stop production to either yield a competitive benefit or cause damage to targeted parties.
Internal Threats
As many ICS systems lack authentication standards that govern who can access respective production elements, when a person has been granted access, they may be able to affect many machines and systems all by themselves. This makes internal threats particularly problematic because one individual can do much harm.
With the preface of malware to a software-dependent system, it can halt the entire production. Also, with credentials to an internal database, a thief can pocket large amounts of data quickly and easily.
Human Error
Human error—such as misconfiguring equipment, incorrectly programming machinery, or overlooking alerts—can considerably affect operations. Often, these mistakes may result from a well-meaning person serving someone with more understanding of operating a machine or system—their lack of experience upshots in pricey supervision.
ICS Security Best Techniques
Limit access to the crucial regions of the system’s network and functionality. For example, firewalls can form a fence between the machinery and the organization’s grid.
Confine those who do not need a physical permit to come into contact with necessary ICS apparatuses. This may enclose physical actions like guards or digital methods such as card readers.
Use security measures for individual elements of the ICS. To do this, you can block unused ports, seat security patches, and implement least-privilege principles to ensure that only those who require access to the system can.
Safeguard data from being altered while it is being stored or transmitted.
Security Standards
Several security standards are commonly involved in ICS cybersecurity. These incorporate the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-82, legislated by the U.S. Department of Commerce to sustain advanced secure, valuable methods in industrial backgrounds.
Also, the American National Standards Institute/International Society of Automation has published the ANSI/ISA A99 benchmark. This body sustains automated interfaces for establishments managing their control systems.
How Can TSAROLABS Assist?
The TSAROLABS industrial control systems/supervisory control and data acquisition key protect various industrial aids and approaches. Security is facilitated by preferring the most efficacious tools for corporate IT infrastructures, concealing from the data camp to the network edge to the cloud.
Visibility hinges on defining the attack surface’s various elements and the data traveling to and from each area. Control is achieved through network segmentation and micro-segmentation, sandboxing, quarantining, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) strategies to control who has credentials to limit the consequence of events.
Behavioral analytics studies the practices of users, computers, and networks to detect risk events and incorporates reacting to events and limiting or inverting their impact on the system.
Related Tags
Cybersecurity, Cyber Attack, Industrial Control System, Firewalls, Network Interruption, data exfiltration, Internal Threat, Human Error.