ARC’s Peter Reynolds discussed the progress made in digital transformation across different regions with Lawrence Schwartz, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Aspen Technology

If there’s one positive thing that comes out of the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s that we are starting to appreciate the value of virtual and online events.  ARC is happy to participate in an informative upcoming virtual cybersecurity roundtable with Palo Alto Networks on April 8, from 8-9 AM Pacific time. The topic of this roundtable discussion is “Strategies for Secure Digital Transformation Of ICS/OT.”  Industrial control systems and processes have their own requirements for security, reliability, and availability.  This panel of cross-sector OT security experts will discuss how to most effectively secure industrial control systems in the midst of the current wave of digital transformation and adoption of IoT technologies.

As our previous coronavirus lessons for industrial cybersecurity blog highlighted, cybersecurity and epidemics have many similarities, including the need for quarantines when situations get out of control.    The 2012 Shamoon attack on Saudi Aramco spread to 35,000 computers before it was detected and stopped.  While critical control systems were unaffected, The event disrupted operations for almost five months and restoration cost millions.  

The situation with respect to industrial automation cybersecurity is no different. The ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards are now widely accepted in this area, referenced by associated guidance ranging from the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to the various sector and industry-specific practices and compliance programs. As acceptance and application have grown, the series has also expanded to address virtually all aspects of product and systems security, from security by design for products to operational processes such as systems integration and patch management.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, everybody that can work from home seems to be working from home.  This huge influx of new remote workers is creating some new cybersecurity concerns and expanding the cybersecurity threat surface.  While these concerns are universal across industries, including IT, banking finance, the manufacturing sector has its own unique set of concerns when it comes to securing remote workers.  Let’s take a look at some of those concerns and what we can do to mitigate them

Efforts to contain the spread of Coronavirus can teach us a lot about how to develop good cybersecurity in our organizations.  While viral epidemics and cyber-attacks are certainly different, they wreak havoc in similar ways.  An unprotected entity is compromised and becomes the base for spreading the infection to connected entities.  The impact on an individual entity may be minor or devastating but spreading raises the likelihood that some significant impact will occur.  Efforts to manage the situation are also complicated when spreading occurs before the initial compromise is recognized.   The likelihood of a specific entity being compromised may be very low but spreading creates opportunities for devastating impacts on health and prosperity.   Smart organizations understand the risk of these “black swan” events and establish programs that can meet these challenges.  The following table illustrates the elements of such programs.   Given the arbitrariness of attacks, smart organizations also focus their efforts on the areas at greatest risk.   

This year’s ARC Industry Forum in Orlando once again featured a full day of cybersecurity workshops.  Cybersecurity solution provider Fortinet had its own workshop hosted by Fortinet Director of Operational Technology and Critical Infrastructure Michelle Balderson.  

The head of our cybersecurity practice Sid Snitkin recently interviewed Claroty Chief Security Officer Dave Weinstein during the ARC Industry Forum in Orlando.  

The OT Cybersecurity Alliance (OTCSA) is a new, non-commercial industry organization established to develop guidelines for ensuring safe and secure OT in critical infrastructure and industrial automation environments.

PAS is sponsoring a luncheon workshop at this year’s ARC Industry Forum in Orlando.  In this Wednesday workshop, learn how Digital Transformation, IIoT, 5G, and Industrie 4.0 initiatives are bringing unprecedented opportunity and increased risk to safe, reliable, and profitable operations.