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Industry 4.0 initiatives requires CISOs to bridge the gap between IT and OT teams

Industry 4.0 initiatives requires CISOs to bridge the gap between IT and OT teams, and this is only possible with C-level driven initiatives

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DQI Bureau
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Industry 4.0

The much-anticipated 5G rollout in India in 2022 may just be the nexus needed to unleash the country’s Industry 4.0 initiatives across the manufacturing sector. Supporting such initiatives requires real-time information to and from the OT environment. While the adoption of 5G networks creates many benefits, it also expands the attack surface as the number of interconnected devices increases.

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One of the biggest challenges for security leaders is the vast amount of data that can be transferred quickly and easily over insecure networks. 5G is expected to increase the connectedness of devices — from IoT to Industrial IoT, which will expand the threat landscape significantly as many of these devices may be poorly implemented from a security perspective. As such, manufacturers must make holistic cybersecurity of both IT and OT a business priority because cyberattacks pose an inherent business risk.

Sustainable Industry 4.0 initiatives in the age of 5G requires both IT and OT teams to work in harmony. And, this is only possible with C-level driven initiatives, where oversight and a cultural shift towards a security-first approach are driven by a CISO who has responsibility and authority for the entire enterprise.

IT education of OT managers

The blurred lines between IT, OT and IoT are paving the way for cybercriminals to move laterally across manufacturing networks, jumping between IT and OT to perpetrate malicious activities. 5G adoption in manufacturing is now a reality. And this reality requires a structured approach to cybersecurity that ensures enterprises are capable of handling data breaches and security concerns.

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The first step is educating IT and OT teams on how each other functions and that security is a shared responsibility.

The challenge lies in changing the mindset of OT managers that cybersecurity creates more complexities to one where they see cybersecurity as a tool to help improve their KPIs of Safety, Availability and Quality. In 5G-powered smart factories, where systems operate in real-time, cyberattacks would massively impact OT KPIs.

OT managers need to accept that air-gaps no longer exist, but rather lead to security theatre. Adopting cybersecurity best practices and optimizing them for OT improve KPIs which are less disruptive to OT processes than dealing with an actual cyberattack.

At the same time, IT teams need to understand that OT teams have a difficult job due to the cyber-physical nature of their work. IT teams must understand how OT operates in order to collaborate. Achieving this collaboration is not an easy task for CISOs. They require buy-in from plant managers for a smooth transition to even begin to bridge the knowledge gap.

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This buy-in can be achieved by convincing plant managers of how OT KPIs can be improved by taking cybersecurity measures. Organizations can also ease this collaboration by having an integrated OT-IT SOC (Security Operations Centre), whereby all the threats are monitored and systems are managed by single, well-trained experts of the OT-IT SOC.

For any of these measures to work effectively, organizations require C-level support.

Cultural shift begins at C-level

For CISOs to even get the buy-in or establish an OT-IT SOC, there needs to be a cultural shift at the top-most level. CISOs need to drive this conversation by addressing the real-time impact cyberattacks can have on operations, the downtime they can cause, and the cost of not doing anything.

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This is why IT and OT collaboration is a pro-active measure to prevent cyberattacks that could end up costing organizations millions. Even worse is the reputational loss and possible government action due to regulatory or safety violations.

Some organizations begin by creating a C-level role such as a Chief Digital Transformation Officer, who is tasked with driving this collaboration. Some manufacturers have already begun hiring senior experienced OT engineers to establish incident response and IT_OT SOCs for the smooth transition.

Multi-layered implementation plan

Once plans for collaboration are in place, organizations require practical and actionable plans to implement them. Risk and threat assessments must be viewed from a business perspective while acknowledging those arising from third-party vendors. Using standard approaches to cybersecurity in Industry 4.0 is not enough and requires a multi-layered approach.

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Asset inventory: Establishing a baseline of the existing OT assets tells security teams what assets exist, why is it there, how they can be protected.

Communications and protocol inventory: Once security teams have an inventory of all assets, establishing a baseline of OT networks becomes easier. With a full inventory, security teams can identify proper and improper communications patterns, what protocols exist in the environment and identify any external connections and why they are present.

Deploy countermeasures: With full visibility into the attack surface, security teams can identify threats and vulnerabilities and implement countermeasures to patch and mitigate them.

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Continuously monitor: Smart manufacturers need to monitor the attack surface continuously, or risk being unable to stop the lateral movement of threat actors. Monitoring the baseline for deviations in asset inventory, communications patterns, or indicators of compromise gives manufacturers an edge in stopping lateral movement, arresting malicious actors before damage can be done.

There is no panacea to cybersecurity in Industry 4.0, especially when coupled with 5G technology. The systems and devices used by different manufacturers vary and so will the threats and vulnerabilities. Industry 4.0 requires an in-depth strategy that builds security at its core, integral to the implementation.

Most importantly, these solutions should be easy to deploy, manage, measure, and scale — particularly ensuring scalability of OT security does not become a security issue while introducing IoT. Heading into the new age of manufacturing, enterprises should assess their security risks before implementing increased interconnectivity and Industry 4.0, failing which the cost of a cyberattack can be massive.

-- Dick Bussiere, Technical Director, Tenable.

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