Numerous Operational Technology (OT) control systems manage critical facility and utility services—such as power, water, fuel, and HVAC—that directly underpin mission readiness. Securing, monitoring, and defending these networks from insider and outsider threats is a complex mandate; organizations must harden these systems without compromising the absolute availability required by operators and maintenance personnel.
This task is compounded by OT's unique operational realities: multi-decade lifecycles, operating system and firmware updates that have the potential to negatively affect the physical environment, direct field-technician access, and mechanical maintenance bypasses. Most critically, compromised OT systems present direct risks to physical safety and public health. This session details a strategic framework to address this problem set, structured around four core Lines of Effort (LOEs):
- OT Cyber-Controls Workforce: Merging OT controls specialists with specialized cybersecurity disciplines under a single program office at both the Regional and Installation levels.
- Task Critical Asset (TCA) Prioritization: Focusing defense resources on OT systems that directly impact mission-critical endpoints—don’t bite the whole elephant...focus on the parts that matter the most!
- Continuous Assessments & Threat Hunt Operations: Utilizing Cyber Hygiene Assessments, Red Team Exercises, and threat hunts to measure program implementation and progress while identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities before adversaries exploit them.
- OT Reference Architecture: Deploying a tailored zero-trust network architecture built upon one singular, uncompromising premise: no OT control system can be trusted.