OT ASSET INVENTORY

Take a more proactive approach to protect your OT assets by understanding them better.

OT Asset Discovery and Inventory Overview

“OT Asset Inventory” refers to a detailed record encompassing all operational technology (OT) assets within an organization. These assets include physical devices such as controllers, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), and other industrial control systems (ICS) used for monitoring and managing industrial processes.

We offer a comprehensive data discovery and collection service that results in a thorough inventory of your OT assets and systems. This is achieved through efficient workflows that leverage asset discovery technologies without disrupting production operations.

Maintaining an accurate asset inventory is essential for effectively assessing risk exposure and managing obsolescence.

Here are three key aspects highlighting the importance of OT asset discovery and inventory management:

Proactive Security Measures: Implementing proactive asset discovery techniques strengthens security by identifying potential vulnerabilities and unauthorized devices before they can be exploited by cyber threats. This proactive approach helps organizations anticipate and mitigate risks, protecting critical infrastructure from malicious activities.
Compliance with Regulatory Standards: An accurate asset inventory is crucial for meeting compliance requirements such as NIST SP 800-82 and IEC 62443, ensuring adherence to industry-specific regulations and frameworks. A comprehensive inventory not only demonstrates compliance but also enhances transparency and accountability during regulatory audits and assessments.
Operational Efficiency and Optimization: Beyond security and compliance benefits, a detailed asset inventory optimizes operational processes by facilitating maintenance planning and resource allocation. Accurate asset data enables organizations to minimize downtime, reduce costs, and maximize the efficiency of their OT infrastructure, thereby enhancing overall operational effectiveness.

Importance of Asset Inventory in an OT Environment

The significance of maintaining an OT asset inventory is immense. Here are several reasons why:

Security: OT systems are crucial to an organization’s operations, often controlling processes with safety implications. A detailed inventory helps in identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities, enabling the implementation of essential security measures to guard against cyber threats.
Compliance: Various industries have regulations and standards that mandate organizations to maintain an inventory of their OT assets. This ensures proper maintenance and security of these systems.
Maintenance and Upgrades: An accurate inventory of OT assets facilitates planning for maintenance and upgrades, ensuring optimal functioning and reducing the risk of downtime or unexpected failures.
Resource Management: An OT asset inventory provides a clear overview of available resources, aiding in informed decisions about resource allocation and utilization.
Improved Decision Making: A current OT asset inventory offers the necessary information for making informed decisions about future technology investments, positioning the organization for growth and success.

An OT asset inventory is essential for a comprehensive operational strategy, providing a clear understanding of technology resources, enhancing security, compliance, maintenance, resource management, and decision-making.

Key Benefits of an OT Asset Inventory

An OT asset inventory offers a thorough understanding of resources, enabling informed decisions about utilization, improving security, meeting compliance requirements, and driving efficiency and growth.

Improved Asset Management: An accurate inventory provides a comprehensive understanding of assets, allowing for better management, maintenance, and utilization.
Increased Efficiency: Clear knowledge of assets helps streamline processes, reduce downtime, and make better decisions about resource allocation.
Enhanced Security: An asset inventory helps identify and prioritize vulnerabilities, facilitating the implementation of necessary security measures against cyber threats.
Better Financial Management: An inventory provides information needed to track and manage expenses accurately, improving budgeting and financial planning.
Compliance: Accurate inventories help meet regulatory requirements and maintain compliance.
Improved Decision-making: Up-to-date inventories offer information necessary for making informed decisions about future investments and resource allocation, helping organizations stay competitive.
Better Resource Utilization: An inventory identifies underutilized or obsolete assets, allowing for repurposing or disposal, improving efficiency, and reducing waste.

Deliverables from Our OT Asset Inventory Service

The primary deliverables of an asset inventory in an industrial network, tailored to the specific needs and goals of the organization, typically include:

Asset List: A comprehensive list of all assets in the industrial network, including type, location, manufacturer, model, serial number, and other relevant information.
Asset Map: A visual representation of the industrial network showing the location and interconnections of all assets, including control systems, PLCs, HMIs, and other equipment.
Vulnerability Assessment: A risk assessment of the industrial network, identifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities and potential threats.
Configuration Management: Documentation of the configuration and settings of all network assets, providing a baseline for future assessments and ensuring consistent operation.
Maintenance Plan: A plan for ongoing maintenance and upgrades of network assets, ensuring optimal functioning and reducing the risk of downtime or unexpected failures.
Compliance Documentation: Documentation of compliance with industry regulations and standards, minimizing the risk of penalties.
Training Material: Training material for operators and maintenance personnel, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to manage and maintain the industrial network effectively.

These deliverables provide a comprehensive understanding of the industrial network, aiding in informed decisions about resource utilization, improving security, meeting compliance requirements, and driving efficiency and growth.

OT Asset Discovery Role in Industrial Networks Security

In OT security, understanding the assets within industrial networks is crucial. This includes inventory management to track existing assets and proactive discovery to identify overlooked devices and systems. Let’s explore the importance of OT asset inventory and discovery in strengthening industrial cybersecurity.

OT Asset Discovery: Proactive discovery of assets within industrial environments is fundamental to robust OT security. Unlike traditional IT networks, OT infrastructures are often sprawling and heterogeneous, comprising numerous devices, sensors, and control systems. Thus, asset discovery is challenging yet essential.

Methods and Tools: OT asset discovery employs various methods and tools tailored to the unique characteristics of industrial networks. Network scanning using protocols like Modbus and DNP3 identifies active devices and their attributes. Passive monitoring provides insights into network traffic patterns, facilitating the detection of unknown assets. Active probing techniques, such as device fingerprinting and service identification, aid in mapping the OT landscape comprehensively.

Benefits and Implications: Proactive asset discovery extends beyond visibility into the network. It helps mitigate risks associated with unknown or unauthorized devices, enabling swift responses to anomalies and security incidents, thereby minimizing operational disruptions. Effective asset discovery supports regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and broader facets of industrial cybersecurity and governance.

Challenges and Considerations: OT asset discovery faces challenges due to the diversity and complexity of industrial environments, prevalence of legacy systems, and proprietary protocols. Resource constraints and organizational silos can also hinder proactive discovery practices. However, a holistic approach incorporating technology, processes, and personnel can overcome these challenges, enhancing resilience and security.

What is OT Asset Inventory?

An OT asset inventory is a maintained aggregation of hardware and software data operating in industrial control system environments.

Typically only items with a TCP/IP network connection are listed with associated details relevant to cyber related run and maintain activities. For example, Operation System (OS) patch levels, backup frequency, Anti-Malware update frequency etc.

What's OT Asset Discovery?

OT asset discovery is the proactive process of identifying all operational technology (OT) assets within industrial networks, including controllers, sensors, and HMIs. It involves methods like network scanning and passive monitoring to gain visibility into the OT infrastructure. Effective asset discovery is crucial for identifying security vulnerabilities, ensuring regulatory compliance, optimizing operational efficiency, and facilitating incident response in industrial environments.

What is ICS Asset Inventory?

An ICS asset inventory is a maintained aggregation of hardware and software data operating in industrial control system environments.

What is OT Asset Management?

The ability for organisations to properly and consistently identify and consistently manage data, personnel, devices, systems, and facilities based on their relative importance to provide the foundational capability to support an organizational cybersecurity program.” *

* NIST 800-82 SpecialPublication, Revision 3, Guide to Operational Technology Security , InitialPublic Draft” NIST, April 2022

Why is OT Asset Management Important?

In OT environments, digital assets impact the physical world. OT asset management helps ensure safety if an unintended or unauthorised change occurs in a device or system. Accurate asset data and security baselines are also the foundation of a strong cybersecurity program.

I’m coWhat are the Benefits of an OT Asset Inventory?ncerned about travel costs. How much travelling will be required?

You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. Maybe that seems obvious, but if you do not have an asset inventory or your asset inventory is not managed and kept up-to-date, you run the risk of not knowing what is connected to your network.

The ability to track and audit your inventory is a baseline requirement for most security standards. These standards all have an element of risk assessment that requires an understanding of threats, vulnerabilities and of course assets.

Why is OT asset inventory important?

OT asset inventory is important for several reasons. Firstly, it provides an organization with a clear understanding of its OT infrastructure, which is necessary for effective security management. Secondly, it helps an organisation identify potential security vulnerabilities and implement appropriate security controls to mitigate these risks. Finally, it enables an organisation to comply with various regulations and standards that require comprehensive inventory of OT assets.

Why is an OT Asset Inventory a Foundational Element of OT Cyber Security?

Effective cyber security in OT requires a deep foundation of asset information.

Without comprehensive asset inventory management, organisations operate on a unsteady footing: Essentially they don’t know the true security status of their environment and are unable to conduct effective security management at scale.

Do Regulatory Requirements Specify an OT Asset Inventory?

Security regulations for critical systems, such as the EU NIS directive and NERC-CIP, require an asset inventory as a base for risk management.

What are the key steps involved in conducting an OT asset inventory?

The key steps involved in conducting an OT asset inventory include:

Identifying all assets: This involves creating a comprehensive list of all OT assets within the organisations infrastructure, including devices, systems, and networks.
Classifying assets: Once all assets have been identified, they need to be classified based on their criticality, function, and other relevant factors.
Mapping assets: Mapping the assets involves understanding how they are interconnected and how they interact with other systems and devices.
Documenting assets: All identified assets need to be documented in a central repository, which can be used for future reference.
Maintaining the inventory: The OT asset inventory needs to be regularly updated to reflect changes in the organization’s infrastructure, such as the addition or removal of devices, systems, or networks.

What are some common challenges associated with conducting an OT asset inventory?

Some common challenges associated with conducting an OT asset inventory include:

Lack of visibility: OT assets are often dispersed across multiple locations and can be difficult to identify and locate.
Lack of standardization: OT assets can have different makes, models, and configurations, making it difficult to develop a standardized inventory.
Limited documentation: OT assets may not be fully documented, making it challenging to understand their function and interconnectivity.
Lack of expertise: Conducting an OT asset inventory requires specialized expertise in both OT and IT, which can be difficult to find within an organization.

What are some best practices for conducting an OT asset inventory?

Engaging cross-functional teams: This involves bringing together teams with expertise in both OT and IT to ensure a comprehensive inventory.
Using automated tools: Automated tools can help identify and track OT assets, making the inventory process more efficient and accurate.
Establishing clear processes: Clear processes should be established for identifying, classifying, mapping, and documenting assets, to ensure consistency and accuracy.
Regularly updating the inventory: The inventory should be regularly updated to reflect changes in the organization’s infrastructure.
Prioritising critical assets: Critical assets should be given priority in the inventory process, as they pose the greatest risk to the organization.

What are the best "OT Asset Inventory" tools?

Forescout CounterACT: Forescout is known for its network visibility and access control solutions. It’s capable of automatically discovering and classifying devices on a network.
Tripwire Industrial Visibility: Tripwire‘s solution is designed specifically for OT environments. It provides asset discovery, inventory management, and vulnerability assessment.
CyberX: CyberX specialized in OT security and provided tools for asset discovery and inventory management in industrial environments.
Nozomi Networks: Nozomi offers solutions for OT and IoT security, including asset discovery and inventory management.
Claroty: Claroty provides solutions for OT security, including asset discovery and vulnerability management.
Tenable: Tenable, focused on industrial as well as IT cybersecurity, including asset inventory