OT VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your OT security posture across people, processes and technology.

OT Vulnerability Assessment Overview

CNB offers a thorough vulnerability assessment service designed to precisely identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities within your Operational Technology (OT) environment. Our OT Security Vulnerability Assessment service includes:

Evaluation of Current Controls: Identifying and assessing existing (as-is) controls.
Gap and Vulnerability Analysis: Identifying and evaluating gaps and vulnerabilities within your OT environment.
Mitigating Controls Assessment: Identifying and evaluating additional mitigating controls to address vulnerabilities.
Risk Rating and Prioritization: Assigning risk ratings, prioritizing vulnerabilities, and providing remedial recommendations.
Formal Assessment Report: Delivering a detailed, formalized assessment report.

Our assessments are “outcome-focused,” meaning that any remedial recommendations we propose aim to provide tangible risk reduction. This approach equips organizations with the information needed to justify OT cybersecurity improvements and associated costs by clearly understanding the “What, Why, and How.”

Our assessments follow industry best practices and standards/frameworks such as ISO/IEC 62443, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST, and ISF, but can also be tailored to meet your specific needs.

Why Conduct an OT Security Vulnerability Assessment?

An OT Security Vulnerability Assessment provides a structured snapshot of your OT environment’s current (“as-is”) cybersecurity posture. This snapshot includes a risk-based analysis detailing the strengths and weaknesses of your OT security across people, processes, and technology. Additionally, it provides prioritized tactical and strategic recommendations aimed at reducing identified risk exposure. Our assessment methodology and data-gathering process leverage extensive experience, threat intelligence, OT cybersecurity industry best practices, and automated tools.

Why is an "OT"-Specific Vulnerability Assessment Necessary?

Traditional IT security models prioritize Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (the “CIA Triad”), while OT cybersecurity models prioritize Availability, Integrity, and Confidentiality (the “AIC Triad”).

This difference is crucial because OT environments (e.g., manufacturing plants, oil assets) rely heavily on system availability and integrity for process control and safety. Loss of availability or integrity can jeopardize workforce safety, consumer safety, physical assets, and the environment. Such disruptions can lead to significant economic, ecological, and life-threatening consequences. Examples of such attacks include the 2021 Colonial Pipeline attack, the 2019 Springhill Memorial Hospital ransomware attack, and the 2015 Sandworm attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure.

Given these differences, an OT-specific vulnerability assessment is necessary to accurately assess risks and propose appropriate countermeasures.

Key Benefits of Conducting an OT Security Vulnerability Assessment

Comprehensive Understanding: Establishes a baseline of your current OT security posture and risk exposure.
Risk Reduction: Identifies improvements to reduce the attack surface and risk in the short, mid, and long term.
Gap Identification: Highlights gaps in people, processes, and technology, helping prioritize high-risk areas for remediation or improvement.
Informed Decision-Making: Provides supporting information for making informed cybersecurity investment decisions.
Non-Intrusive Methods: Utilizes non-intrusive assessment methods.
Swift Execution: Ensures a quick and efficient assessment process.

Deliverables from Our OT Security Vulnerability Assessment

As part of this service, CNB delivers a formal report that includes:

Assessment Methodology: An outline of the methodology used.
Executive Summary: A high-level overview of the findings.
Current Situation and Risk Exposure: A detailed description of the current security posture and associated risks.
Assessment Findings and Observations: Comprehensive findings and observations from the assessment.
Remediation Recommendations: Actionable recommendations with associated priorities.

Additionally, we provide:

High-Level Presentation: A presentation for executive-level stakeholders summarizing key findings and recommendations.

What is OT Vulnerability Management?

OT (Operational Technology) Vulnerability Management refers to the process of identifying, evaluating, and addressing vulnerabilities in OT systems and networks. OT systems are those that control and monitor physical processes, such as manufacturing plants, power grids, and transportation systems.

OT vulnerability management involves several steps, including:

Asset Inventory: The first step is to identify and inventory all assets within the OT environment, including hardware, software, and network devices.
Vulnerability Scanning: Once assets are identified, the next step is to scan them for known vulnerabilities. Vulnerability scanners are automated tools that can identify security weaknesses in systems and applications.
Risk Assessment: The vulnerabilities identified during scanning are then assessed to determine their impact on the OT environment. This includes evaluating the likelihood of exploitation and the potential consequences of a successful attack.
Remediation: Once vulnerabilities have been identified and assessed, a plan is developed to remediate them. This may involve applying software patches, reconfiguring systems, or implementing additional security controls.
Monitoring: Finally, the OT environment is continuously monitored for new vulnerabilities and potential threats, and the vulnerability management process is repeated on a regular basis to ensure ongoing security.

Effective OT vulnerability management is critical to ensure the safety, reliability, and resilience of critical infrastructure systems.

What is a Vulnerability?

In the context of an OT asset, a vulnerability is a system weakness that, if exploited, will result in a breach of system integrity, which could then lead to system malfunction.

What is Security Posture?

The security status of an organisation’s OT networks, systems and data based on information security resources (e.g., people, hardware, software, policies) and capabilities in place to manage the defence of the enterprise and to react as the situation changes.

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.

What are Mitigating Controls?

Mitigating controls are methods used to reduce the overall impact of a threat. The mitigating controls are therefore assigned to appropriate threats.

What does "Outcome Focused" Approach Mean?

Adopting an outcomes-focused approach means orienting your organisation to achieve outcomes, in other words, the results of your activities. A focus on outcomes helps organisations also prove to stakeholders that what they are doing is working.

What is Risk Exposure?

Risk exposure is the probability of loss resulting from a cyber attack or cyber incident. Risk exposure is typically expressed as Low, Medium and High.

Safeguarding OT Networks.

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