OT CYBER SECURITY PROGRAM

Address, reduce and sustain risk reduction across your OT environment.

OT Cyber Security Program Overview

Regardless of the size of an organization, every entity relying on Operational Technology (OT) for any part of its operations should have a robust OT Cyber Security Program. This necessity is driven by several factors:

Digital Transformation:
- The integration of digital technologies into OT environments has increased the potential for cyber threats.
- As organizations embrace digital transformation, the need for comprehensive cyber security measures becomes critical.
IT/OT Convergence:
- The blending of Information Technology (IT) and OT systems has created new vulnerabilities.
- Protecting interconnected systems requires specialized security strategies to safeguard both IT and OT environments.
Increased Connectivity:
- Greater connectivity within OT environments has expanded the attack surface.
- Ensuring secure communication channels and protecting networked OT assets is vital.

OT Risk Exposure

Organizations often fail to recognize the full extent of their OT risk exposure, which can range from:

Simple Configurations: A few OT assets performing specific tasks, such as manufacturing batch operations.
Complex Infrastructures: Multi-network, multi-OT systems spread across various locations and supported by cloud solutions.

Objectives of OT Cyber Security Programs

Protect Safety, Availability, and Integrity:
- Safety: Ensuring the safety of operations and personnel.
- Availability: Maintaining the continuous availability of OT systems to avoid operational disruptions.
- Integrity: Safeguarding the integrity of data and operations from unauthorized modifications.
Layered Security Approach:
- Addressing security across all layers of infrastructure, from the physical components to the cloud-based systems supporting OT operations.
Sustainable Risk Reduction:
- Developing and implementing strategies to reduce and sustain risk reduction over time.
- Programs are designed to evolve with the changing threat landscape.

Evolution of OT Cyber Security Programs

OT Cyber Security Programs are dynamic and evolve based on initial exploration and ongoing analysis of:

Risk Exposure:
- Understanding the specific risks faced by the organization’s OT environment.
- Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Vulnerabilities and Deficiencies:
- Conducting thorough assessments to pinpoint weaknesses in existing OT systems.
- Addressing deficiencies in people, processes, and technology.

Key Components of an OT Cyber Security Program

Initial Exploration and Analysis:
- Assessing the current state of OT cyber security.
- Identifying critical assets, potential threats, and existing vulnerabilities.
Risk Management:
- Implementing risk management strategies to mitigate identified risks.
- Continuously monitoring and updating risk assessments as new threats emerge.
Comprehensive Security Measures:
- Developing policies and procedures tailored to the organization’s specific needs.
- Ensuring the implementation of technical controls and security measures.
Continuous Improvement:
- Regularly reviewing and updating the OT Cyber Security Program.
- Adapting to changes in the threat landscape and advancements in technology.

By establishing a well-structured OT Cyber Security Program, organizations can proactively manage their OT risk exposure, safeguard critical assets, and ensure the resilience and security of their operations.

Why Run an OT Cyber Security Program?

OT Cyber Security Programs have become a top priority for executive teams due to their critical role in achieving several key objectives:

Risk Reduction:
- Mitigation of Vulnerabilities: Identifies and addresses inherent vulnerabilities in OT systems.
- Protection Against Losses: Reduces the risk of human, reputational, and financial losses from cyber incidents or audit failures.
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements:
- Adherence to Standards: Ensures that the organization meets compliance and regulatory mandates.
- Preservation of Operations: Protects critical business operations from potential disruptions.
Establishment and Mitigation of Risk Exposure:
- Risk Management: Identifies, assesses, and mitigates the organization’s risk exposure to a level as low as reasonably practicable.

Objectives of an OT Cyber Security Program

To achieve these objectives, executive boards often look for OT Cyber Security Programs to:

Establish a Standardized Security Framework:
- Organization-Wide Consistency: Implements a standardized security framework, including operating models and assurance processes, across the entire OT estate.
Develop Robust OT Architectures:
- Current and Future Needs: Supports current organizational needs and enables future business strategies through secure OT system and network architectures.
Balance Risk and Controls:
- People – Process – Technology Approach: Balances overall risk against control requirements, business strategies, current needs, and available investment capital.

Importance of a Clearly Defined OT Cyber Security Program

A well-defined OT Cyber Security Program ensures the right balance of security controls and provides sufficient investment to deploy and sustain them. This must be executed within the specified time and budget to achieve tangible performance and return-on-security-investment metrics.

Key Benefits of an OT Cyber Security Program

Flexible Engagement Scope:
- Comprehensive Support: Supports the full program lifecycle or specific parts, such as development, deployment, monitoring, assurance, and improvement processes.
Collaborative Design:
- Practical Implementation: Ensures the program is designed practically, with achievable people, procedural, and technical requirements.
Increased Risk Reduction and Maturity:
- Lifecycle Management: Reduces risk exposure and increases maturity through all stages of the OT Risk Management Lifecycle.
Compliance and Business Objectives:
- Proactive Risk Management: Helps meet regulatory requirements or strategic business objectives, proactively managing cyber security risk.

Deliverables from OT Cyber Security Program Service

The service offering is tailored to your organization’s specific needs and typically includes:

Risk Assessment Report:
- Comprehensive Analysis: Identifies and assesses risks and vulnerabilities in the OT environment, forming the basis for security controls and processes.
Security Policy and Procedures:
- Guidelines and Controls: Outlines security controls and processes, including access controls, monitoring, incident response, and disaster recovery.
Network Architecture Diagrams:
- System Interactions: Illustrates the network architecture, detailing connected devices and system interactions.
Security Control Implementation Plan:
- Actionable Steps: Outlines steps for implementing the security controls and processes.
Security Awareness Training:
- Educational Programs: Provides training materials and programs to educate employees and contractors on cyber security importance and their roles.
Incident Response Plan:
- Response Strategies: Details steps for detecting, containing, and mitigating security incidents.
Testing and Validation Plan:
- Validation Procedures: Includes steps for testing and validating security controls, such as penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security audits.

Conclusion

The deliverables of an OT Cyber Security Program are designed to establish a comprehensive security framework that protects critical infrastructure from cyber threats while ensuring system and process availability, reliability, and safety. This service is tailored to meet your organization’s specific needs—get in touch to discuss further.

What is the Main Differences Between IT and OT Security Programs?

One significant difference between OT cybersecurity programs and their IT cybersecurity counterparts is that OT security programs have a cross-organisational impact. OT security programs often include stakeholders from across the organisation all of whom will want to have some say in the program guidelines, goals, and structure.

What is the Foundation of OT Security Programs?

OT Security Programs are formed upon the bedrock of a People – Process – Technology approach that balances an organisation’s overall risk against mitigating control requirements, business strategies or future plans, current business needs, and investment capital available for security purchases. From an organisational perspective, the creation of a clearly defined OT security program is critical to ensuring the right balance of selected and defined security controls, while also providing sufficient investment to deploy and sustain them.

What is a Cyber Security Program?

A cyber security program is a set of activities, security policies, and security controls that are designed to prevent a successful cyber attack against an organisation and recover from them quickly and completely.

Initial consultation meeting(s) to determine your goals and current business challenges.
If we require deeper information before or during building a proposal, we’ll have you sign a mutual NDA (non-disclosure agreement).
We’ll develop a proposal that includes a SOW (statement and scope of work), pricing, timelines and any options or recommendations.
Once the scope of the project is agreed upon, we’ll establish you in our secure systems for effective collaboration (if applicable). This will also include a regular communications plan and milestone reporting.
We’ll then work our magic and execute.
Towards the end of the project, we’ll finalise knowledge transfer so the results are sustainable.
Although we’ll do an official closeout of the project, we’ll always be checking in to ensure that everything is working the way it should and you continue seeing the results you expect.

We want your OTIFYD experience to be one you’ll never forget in a good way. Working with consultants shouldn’t be a hassle. We work with you and your teams to make sure the experience and process are great while working towards your goals.

Can you Measure the Performance of a Cyber Security Program?

OT Cyber Security Program performance can be managed but only if measured. Companies that have agreed-upon security performance metrics are more likely to manage security effectively.

Cyber security performance management is the process of evaluating your cybersecurity program’s maturity based on risks and the associated level of investment (people, process, and technology) needed to improve your security to meet regulatory requirements and business outcomes. The metrics should tell a story about your security program: how prepared you are for an attack, the attacks that have been discovered and resolved, the vulnerabilities that made those incidents possible, and steps being taken to close the holes in the security program.

Why is Developing A Cyber Security Program Important?

In a nutshell – cybercrime is becoming increasingly prevalent, persistent, and costly.

The consequences of cyber-attacks in OT environments include production downtime, safety and environmental impacts, tarnished brand reputation, and potentially large regulatory fines or lawsuits.

How Should Cyber Security Investment be Considered?

Return on Investment (ROI) is an important metric used by decision makers to calculate the value of an investment. It’s difficult to calculate the return on a security investment because they generally generate no positive return.

However, considering the veracity of today’s cyber-threat environment, businesses that implement cyber security programs are likely to benefit from costs prevented. So, instead of a traditional ROI calculation, the Return on Security Investment (ROSI) equation should be used, which incorporates the savings of security events avoided.

ROSI = (Security expense avoided – prevention cost) / prevention cost

By realistically calculating the benefit of avoided costs, investment in a cyber security program can be more clearly justified and an organisation can reap the rewards of being prepared to weather the storm of a cyber breach.