In the dynamic landscape of Operational Technology (OT), OT visibility is crucial for managing cybersecurity. Emerging IT convergence, new vulnerabilities, evolving cyber threats, and regulations often leave IT-OT teams with siloed tools, causing many organizational devices to remain unmanaged and hidden.
This lack of OT network visibility increases the risk of cyber threats and operational inefficiencies, threatening your business’s revenue stream. Enhancing OT visibility is an essential process for strengthening cybersecurity protocols and maintaining your business’s operations.
This guide explores key aspects of OT visibility, including OT asset identification, industrial applications, and strategies to improve OT network visibility.
Table of Contents
What is OT Visibility?
OT visibility is the process of evaluating, identifying, and monitoring a network’s OT assets, traffic, vulnerabilities, and threats. Many OT systems feature a significant number of OT assets that handle important tasks, but aren’t consistently monitored. This limited OT asset visibility increases cybersecurity risks, as unmonitored assets are constantly vulnerable to existing or new cyber threats.
OT cyber attacks can result in halted plant operations, the loss of critical safety systems, and extensive service failures. These threats make OT visibility an essential aspect of OT security. However, proactive OT asset identification and monitoring requires the ability to assess your entire network to obtain all the necessary data to conduct predictive maintenance and help plan for costs. With IT-OT teams often overstretched, actively monitoring and updating OT visibility can fall in priority.
To combat this issue, organizations may utilize the OT Security services of an OT security firm, such as s4nets. Our team of experts handle your OT security protocols, leaving your in-house team to focus on higher priority tasks and operations, without leaving your network vulnerable.
OT Network Visibility Benefits By Industry
OT network visibility empowers C-suite executives, managers, and other stakeholders in managing operations. Gaining visibility into your OT network also provides a variety of other benefits, including:
- Gain core business insights.
- Make informed financial decisions.
- Proactively maintain the system.
- Discover when assets are available for production.
- Getting real-time asset discovery.
- Improving the flow of information.
- Automating processes.
- Ensuring better adherence to regulatory compliance.
However, as OT visibility is a core tenet of OT security, its benefits are far-reaching and extend into multiple different industries, including:
- Manufacturing and Automotive: These industries benefit from visible and secure production systems that prevent disruptions, support innovation, and protect intellectual property. OT asset visibility aids in managing flexible production processes and securing supply chains.
- Critical Infrastructure: For sectors like energy, oil and gas, and water management, OT visibility safeguards essential services. It reduces risks, enhances operational continuity, and protects critical infrastructure from cyber threats.
- Healthcare and Government: Monitoring systems in these sectors ensures patient safety, data integrity, and the uninterrupted delivery of public services. Government entities further rely on OT visibility to protect public sector networks and infrastructure.
- Financial Services and Retail: In finance, visibility ensures secure transaction processing and data protection, while in retail, it improves supply chain efficiency and product quality, safeguarding against disruptions.
- Specialized Sectors (Defense, Sustainability): OT network visibility is indispensable for managing national security threats in defense sectors and ensuring compliance with environmental standards in sustainability-driven industries.
How To Gain OT Visibility
Achieving comprehensive OT visibility is vital to securing and optimizing your organization’s operational technology environment. By systematically identifying, assessing, and monitoring all OT assets, organizations can mitigate risks and improve operational efficiency.
The following steps provide a strategic approach to gaining OT visibility, ensuring that all assets are accounted for and protected against potential vulnerabilities:
1. Assess the Organization
This initial step involves developing a precise and comprehensive understanding of your entire network landscape, including all devices, facilities, and their respective processes.
Begin by mapping out all organizational assets, both digital and physical, to ensure no hidden or shadow assets go undiscovered. This phase may involve automated asset discovery tools to identify devices that are both connected to and independent of the network. This distinction is especially relevant in remote or hybrid work environments where employees utilize modern work devices and software.
Conducting interviews with key personnel and reviewing existing documentation can also provide valuable insights into operational processes. A thorough assessment allows you to identify gaps in security and understand the current state of your OT environment, laying the groundwork for effective planning and risk management.
2. Review OT Network Traffic
Once the organization and its assets are accurately mapped, the next step involves monitoring and analyzing the data traffic within the network. Utilize network monitoring tools to scrutinize the communication protocols, data flows, and interactions between devices.
This analysis helps uncover any unauthorized or unusual activities and provides insights into how different network segments interconnect and operate. The primary aim of this step is to establish a detailed inventory that covers not only the hardware and software components but also the dynamic data exchanges that occur throughout the network.
This deep visibility into network traffic is essential for identifying potential vulnerabilities and ensuring that all communications align with established security policies. By thoroughly understanding network interactions, organizations can enhance their security measures and optimize network performance.
3. Look for Hidden OT Assets
Beyond what you see from the first two steps, there will be other assets behind the scenes that don’t interact enough and need to talk more. Seeing all these devices will help you gain the complete picture to determine the best step forward. It’s balancing the 30,000-foot view of the managers and combining it with the on-the-ground-level view of the subject matter experts and maintenance employees.
Hidden OT Asset Discovery
To give you an idea of what OT assets to look for, here’s a breakdown of the most common OT assets and their vulnerabilities:
OT Asset Type | Description | Common Vulnerabilities |
Industrial Control Systems (ICS) | Systems used to control industrial processes such as manufacturing and utilities. | Outdated software, lack of encryption, insufficient access controls |
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) | Systems to control and monitor infrastructure and facility industrial processes. | Network exposure, unsecured communication protocols, legacy system weaknesses |
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) | Digital computers used for automation of electromechanical processes. | Firmware vulnerabilities, weak authentication mechanisms |
Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) | Devices that interface physical equipment with SCADA systems, transmitting telemetry data. | Insecure remote access points, software weaknesses |
Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) | Interfaces that allow humans to interact with machines and systems. | Poorly configured user access, software vulnerabilities |
Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) | Used in electric power stations and substations for automated decision-making processes. | Improper configuration, software vulnerabilities, communication protocol issues |
Sensors and Actuators | Devices that collect data and execute commands in industrial environments. | Lack of security in data transmission, exposure to physical tampering |
Robotics Systems | Automated systems used in manufacturing and assembly lines. | Network connectivity issues, susceptibility to malware attacks |
Building Management Systems (BMS) | Systems managing different facets of building operations such as HVAC, lighting, and access control. | Network exposure, outdated technology, insufficient security |
Integrating IT-OT Networks: Best Practices
As the convergence of IT and OT networks becomes increasingly prevalent, gaining visibility into your OT network is only the beginning. The successful integration of IT and OT networks requires a strategic approach that encompasses both technological and organizational dimensions. Here are best practices for effectively integrating IT-OT networks:
- Align with Business Objectives: Clearly understand and document your business objectives to ensure IT-OT integration aligns with organizational goals. This alignment helps prioritize efforts and resources effectively, so your business can leverage the best enterprise network solutions for your needs.
- Facilitate Open Communication: Establish strong communication channels between all stakeholders, including IT and OT teams, leadership, and third-party vendors. Transparent and ongoing dialogue is crucial for addressing concerns and synchronizing goals.
- Define Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders to ensure effective integration and accountability. This helps prevent overlaps, mitigates risks, and clarifies each participant’s contribution.
- Promote Training and Awareness: Implement robust training and awareness programs across the organization to educate employees about evolving OT security best practices. Regular updates enhance skills, foster a security-conscious culture, and mitigate human-error risks.
- Adopt a Phased Approach: Integrate IT-OT networks incrementally, using phased deployment to manage complexity and minimize disruptions. After each phase, conduct reviews to incorporate lessons learned and refine processes.
- Implement Robust Security Measures: As IT-OT integration can increase the attack surface, design and enforce comprehensive security measures tailored to both IT and OT environments. This includes implementing firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and secure access protocols.
- Continuously Evaluate and Improve: Regularly assess and upgrade security measures to address evolving threats and challenges. Maintain agility by updating security protocols and adapting to technological advancements and threat landscapes.
By adhering to these best practices, organizations can achieve seamless and secure IT-OT integration, thus enhancing operational efficiency, bolstering security, and supporting strategic business objectives.
How solutions4networks Can Improve OT Visibility
The benefits of gaining visibility and improving your critical OT security system include enhanced uptime, safety, and resiliency. Regardless of where your company is on its OT security journey, you can still review and improve your approaches while creating plans for future cybersecurity initiatives.
Working with experts who are knowledgeable about the unique challenges of securing an OT environment is the key to improving processes while preventing cyber attacks and breaches. To discuss gaining visibility into your network through solutions4networks’ OT Security Assessment, click the button below.