USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) put forward a joint advisory recommending that all US critical infrastructure facilities take immediate actions to secure their OT assets. While this is in relation to the US, it is a reminder that civilian infrastructure makes attractive targets for foreign powers attempting to do harm to any country.
Here’s a response from Marty Edwards, former Director of ICS-CERT and VP of OT Security at Tenable to this joint advisory from CISA and the NSA about OT attacks:
“Today’s joint alert from the NSA and CISA about malicious activity targeting operational technology (OT) and critical infrastructure should be taken very seriously. Don’t be fooled – this isn’t a warning about the possibility of attacks. This is a warning that attacks have occurred and are ongoing as we speak.
OT is foundational to absolutely everything we do – from the energy we rely on, to the factories manufacturing medical devices, to the water we drink. The country runs on OT. And while our reliance on OT has only increased, so too has the convergence of IT and OT. Internet-accessible OT devices are significantly more exposed to outside threats than the near-extinct air-gapped systems of old.
Organisations that utilize OT must remain vigilant and ensure they have complete, real-time visibility across their environments, including IT and OT assets and their associated vulnerabilities. From there, security teams need to prioritize risk-based mitigations such as vulnerability severity, exploitability and asset criticality.” — Marty Edwards, Former Director of ICS-CERT and VP of OT Security at Tenable.
Tenable cautions against imminent cyber threats to legacy OT assets
