In the opening weeks of a new year, it’s reasonable to ask whether the security challenges to be faced in the year ahead differ from those in previous years. And whether or not the challenges differ, should organizations shift their defensive strategies, especially when it comes to operational technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT), and critical infrastructure components?
“What we’re seeing emerging in general trends in cybersecurity is that it’s always been a pretty dynamic place, but now the attacks know no boundaries,” says Stuart Reed, vice president of cybersecurity at Nominet. And, he explains, those boundary-jumping attacks against OT can have an impact beyond data — hitting systems that have an immediate impact on human life and safety.
Security’s job is complicated by OT and IoT devices that weren’t designed with the level of security that’s now the norm in IT systems. “A lot of the control systems and the OT infrastructure were never, ever designed to be digitally connected anywhere else,” says Reed. But the continuing trend of digitalization, he explains, means that few OT systems can remain isolated for long.
With threats from both criminal and nation-state aggressors evolving, what steps should security teams take to protect the OT and IoT systems owned by their organizations? Dark Reading spoke to experts in the industry to ask what they would recommend for dealing with the IoT threats of 2020. Through the conversations we collected seven key considerations for security professionals looking to keep their OT systems as secure as possible in the months ahead — no matter how the threat landscape might change.
(Image: Poobest via Adobe Stock)
Curtis Franklin Jr. is Senior Editor at Dark Reading. In this role he focuses on product and technology coverage for the publication. In addition he works on audio and video programming for Dark Reading and contributes to activities at Interop ITX, Black Hat, INsecurity, and … View Full Bio
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