What is Operational Technology (OT) Security?

OT cybersecurity, or operational technology cybersecurity, refers to the integration of both hardware and software for controlling and supervising physical processes, devices, and infrastructure. This technology is essential across various asset-intensive industries and is crucial in everything from overseeing critical infrastructure to managing robotic systems in manufacturing environments. OT is extensively utilized in sectors such as manufacturing, oil and gas, power generation and distribution, aviation, maritime, rail transport, and utilities, highlighting its diverse applications in different fields. 

OT cybersecurity refers to the practices and technologies that protect OT systems connected to Industrial IoT environments. As industrial operations increasingly rely on digital solutions for automation and remote monitoring, securing these systems becomes crucial. OT security helps safeguard operational technology systems against cyber-threats to ensure that critical infrastructure stays safe and operational. By implementing robust security measures, organizations can enable secure remote access to their OT systems, safeguarding operational and informational assets. This protection is vital for maintaining the integrity and efficiency of interconnected industrial environments.

OT and IT security use similar tools but differ significantly in their application. When considering IT vs. OT, OT systems primarily interact with machine systems, such as industrial control systems (ICS), to ensure operational continuity and uptime. In contrast, IT security focuses on protecting data and systems used by people.

OT security concentrates on the long life cycles of industrial equipment, which often span decades, and safeguards legacy systems for which patches may not be available. In addition, OT security stresses the safety and reliability of physical processes, which is distinctly different from IT security's data-centric focus. 

Despite the advent of various OT threat detection monitoring tools and software in recent years, securing operational technology (OT) environments poses several unique challenges. These challenges include: 

Lack of bespoke skills: There is a noticeable gap in cybersecurity expertise within operational teams and a lack of manufacturing knowledge in Security Operations Centers (SOCs). This skills mismatch complicates effective OT cybersecurity management.

Changing adversarial tactics: Cyber-threats are dynamic and constantly evolving, with adversaries continuously advancing their techniques. This makes it challenging to stay ahead and effectively counter these threats in OT environments.

Passive, manual tooling: The sensitive nature of ICS environments often requires tools to be passive. This means they are not configured to automatically trigger a shutdown in the absence of a verified failure, which can delay response times in crisis situations.

Old equipment, exposed endpoints: Many OT environments operate with legacy equipment, which, coupled with vendor restrictions, limits the coverage of endpoint security tools. This leaves older systems more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. 

The convergence of IT and OT systems and the adoption of IoT, secure remote access, and cloud technologies have exponentially expanded the cyber-attack surface.

IT and OT security solutions should collaborate to ensure comprehensive protection for interconnected environments. While IT focuses on data security, OT security safeguards OT systems that manage industrial processes. With the convergence of IT and OT, specialized OT security solutions are essential for monitoring and protecting these systems.

OT systems require tailored IoT and OT security solutions to remotely manage and monitor industrial operations while defending against cyber-threats. This integration enhances efficiency and productivity and necessitates robust security measures to protect both systems and data from vulnerabilities inherent in interconnected environments. 

Historically, OT systems were not connected to the internet, shielding them from online threats such as malware and cyber-attacks. However, the progression toward digital transformation and the blending of IT and OT systems has led many organizations to integrate additional solutions into their infrastructure to tackle new and unique security challenges. This evolution has given rise to intricate network structures that lack cohesive information sharing, reducing overall system visibility for OT cybersecurity professionals. 

ICSs — which include devices, controls, and network systems managing OT — are crucial for maintaining operational continuity and revenue generation. Commonly used industrial systems include SCADA, DCS, and tailored applications, which are at risk of compromise if threats traverse from IT to OT. OT vulnerabilities can lead to operational downtime, reputational damage, and extensive harm to critical infrastructure used in everyday life, such as drinking water and energy. This makes OT systems a prime target for cyber-attacks. 

Enhanced visibility 

One of the primary advantages of effective OT security is enhanced visibility across the entire network. This involves discovering and identifying every device connected to the OT system and assessing their trust levels. By defining the attack surface, OT security teams can continuously monitor device behavior and traffic patterns, ensuring anomalies are detected and addressed quickly. Enhanced visibility enables security teams to profile traffic accurately, dictate allowed protocols, applications, and services, and enforce strict security measures. This comprehensive view helps in making informed decisions and maintaining robust security postures across both IT and OT environments. 

Continuous monitoring 

Effective OT security involves continuously monitoring network activities to identify and mitigate OT vulnerabilities in real time. Continuous monitoring allows security teams to gather intelligence on known and unknown threats, providing a detailed analysis of behaviors within the OT system. Centralized security tools assist in logging, reporting, and analyzing activity across the network. This continuous analysis helps in early threat detection, ensuring that cyber-threats are neutralized before they can cause significant damage. Additionally, continuous monitoring supports security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining continuous protection in an ever-evolving threat landscape. 

System and subsystem control

Another significant advantage of effective OT security is the enhanced control over systems and subsystems. OT systems often manage critical industrial processes, making it essential to ensure that each system and subsystem performs its designated function without interference. Multifactor authentication (MFA) ensures that only authorized personnel have access to specific areas of the network. Network segmentation and micro-segmentation create zones of control, providing a layered security approach that isolates critical systems and prevents lateral movement of threats. Sandboxing techniques detect potential threats, and automated quarantine measures prevent these threats from causing damage, ensuring the integrity and reliability of industrial operations.

Operational Technology (OT) security faces complex challenges as organizations become increasingly interconnected and more reliant on digital capabilities. One of the key issues is the convergence of IT, OT, and IoT systems, which expands the attack surface and frequently creates critical blind spots which disrupts the traditional isolation that once helped secure OT environments. OT systems, once isolated, are now interconnected, making it difficult to maintain full visibility and control.

Additionally, traditional OT security approaches relied on passive defenses like air gaps and defensible architectures, which are insufficient against modern, sophisticated cyber threats. Another challenge is that OT security tools often fail to offer effective, built-in native response capabilities, leading to delayed incident response times. As OT systems continue to be targeted by advanced threat actors, such as nation-state hackers and ransomware groups, the risk of cyber disruption increases significantly.

OT security standards refer to frameworks and guidelines designed to protect operational technology systems. Key standards include the ISA/IEC 62443 series, which provides a comprehensive approach to securing industrial automation and control systems, and NIST SP 800-82, which focuses on securing critical infrastructure. These standards help organizations streamline governance, establish consistent security baselines, verify compliance, and continuously refine their security posture. They are essential for managing the growing risks associated with the convergence of IT and OT systems.

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Best practices for OT security include:

• Proactive vulnerability management: Regularly identifying and addressing software and firmware weaknesses, and patching and updating OT systems to close security gaps.
• Strong network segmentation: Isolating OT networks from IT networks to reduce exposure to cyber threats.
• Advanced threat detection:  Employing continuous monitoring and anomaly detection tools to quickly identify and respond to suspicious activities in real-time
• Strong access controls: Enforcing strict authentication and authorization to ensure that only authorized users can interact with OT systems.
• Incident response planning: Having a clear and efficient response plan in place to mitigate the effects of a breach.

Creating an effective OT security strategy involves several best practices to ensure comprehensive protection against cyber-threats. Here are the key components: 

Mapping the network environment 

Begin by mapping your entire OT environment. Identifying all devices and their digital locations in real time is essential for understanding your attack surface and pinpointing sources of issues. Many security vendors offer enhanced device monitoring features. See more information here.

Monitoring for suspicious activity

Continuous monitoring of the entire OT ecosystem for unusual activity is crucial. This includes monitoring service provider and vendor traffic to identify suspicious or abnormal behaviors. Effective monitoring helps reduce security risks and retain a robust security posture. 

Adopting a zero trust framework 

Implementing a zero trust framework is vital for OT security. This approach assumes that any outside entity could be a threat until it is authenticated. Threats can include users, devices, or networks. Multifactor authentication (MFA) and vulnerability management are core elements of zero trust strategies, ensuring that only verified entities can access critical systems. 

Leveraging access management 

Access management is critical in OT environments. Identity management and access controls are paramount to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive systems. Proper access management can prevent physically destructive compromises and protect human safety. 

Enacting application-level microsegmentation

Microsegmentation differs from traditional flat network segmentation in that this application level restricts users, including malicious insiders, from locating and using applications beyond their authorization. This adds an additional layer of security by isolating critical applications from potential threats. 

An effective OT security strategy combines these practices to protect OT systems from evolving cyber-threats, ensuring operational continuity and safety. By integrating comprehensive monitoring, zero trust principles, and robust access management, organizations can secure their OT environments against a wide range of security challenges. 

Focusing on visibility and access control first is the most cost-effective way to improve OT security because these measures deliver a high return on investment. Many industrial systems prioritize availability over cybersecurity, leaving systems exposed through unmonitored assets and weak authentication. Addressing these areas improves resilience without significant infrastructure changes.

Establish asset visibility

Unlike IT networks, OT typically relies on legacy equipment that was often not designed with security as a priority. These systems are highly interconnected, so a single weakness can disrupt production or compromise security. The first step in securing OT systems is knowing the environment — every device, controller, and connection, and how they interact.

Tracking what exists in the environment exposes obsolete devices, misconfigured endpoints, and unauthorized connections before they can be exploited. Doing so relies on process discipline and existing network management tools rather than new technology investments, closing major visibility gaps at minimal cost.

Segment OT from IT networks

Limit connections between operational systems and corporate networks to only those required for operability. Use existing firewalls, VLANs, or demilitarized zones (DMZs) to segment your networks so it's harder for attackers to move laterally between systems. This prudent approach leverages current network infrastructure and configuration adjustments rather than investing in new hardware, and it reduces the potential impact of a breach.

Enforce strong access management

Focusing on governance and policy changes efficiently addresses one of the most common points of entry in OT environments. Secure critical systems with strong identity and access management, replace default credentials, and apply role-based permissions. Also, tightly control vendor or remote maintenance access. These measures reduce unnecessary entry points so that only trusted users can interact with sensitive assets, while minimizing the risk of credential misuse.

With the increasing sophistication and volume of technical and social engineering attacks in various industrial environments, artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a pivotal tool in enhancing OT cybersecurity. Many vendors will claim to use AI, so it is essential to know which AI types should be applied for each use case:

‍‍‍Supervised machine learning: This is the most commonly used technique in AI cybersecurity. It's trained on historical threat intelligence and recognized cyber-attack methods to identify known attacks.‍

Natural language processing (NLP): This model applies computational techniques to process and understand human language. It can be used in threat intelligence, incident investigation, and summarization.

Large language models (LLMs): This type of AI is used in generative AI tools and applies deep learning models to comprehend, condense, and create new content. The integrity of the output depends upon the quality of the data on which the AI was trained.

Unsupervised machine learning: This AI model learns continuously from unstructured, raw data to detect slight differences that indicate anomalies. With the correct models, this AI can use anomaly-based detections to identify all kinds of cyber-attacks, including entirely unknown and novel ones.

Behavioral Analysis Through Machine Learning: AI can analyze vast amounts of data (millions of security events) and detect patterns, enhancing the ability to prevent cyber-attacks and improve response times compared to traditional methods. 

Monitoring and Optimizing Industrial Processes: AI can predict maintenance needs and help avoid equipment failures that lead to unscheduled production downtimes, thereby preventing substantial losses. 

Automation of Security Tasks: AI can automate tasks such as network monitoring, security patching, asset identification, and updating firewall rules. This not only improves efficiency but also allows security analysts to focus on more complex and strategic tasks.

‍Darktrace / OT is a comprehensive security solution built specifically for critical infrastructure. It implements real time prevention, detection, and response for operational technologies, natively covering industrial and enterprise environments with visibility of OT, IoT, and IT assets in unison.

Using Self-Learning AI technology, Darktrace / OT is the industry's only OT security solution to scale bespoke risk management, threat detection, and response, catching threats that traverse network- and cloud-connected IT systems to specialized OT assets across all levels of the Purdue Model.

Instead of depending on knowledge gained from past attacks, AI technology learns what "normal" usage is for its environment and identifies previously unknown threats by detecting slight pattern variations. This gives engineering and security teams the confidence to evaluate workflows, maintain security posture, and effectively mitigate risks from a unified platform in less time.

Read more about Darktrace / OT in our solution brief here.