The rise of cloud connectivity is steadily and fundamentally changing how industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) environments are managed. Thanks to the real-time data monitoring it provides, business leaders are getting unprecedented insights into day-to-day processes, empowering them to make data-driven decisions that impact their bottom line.
Additionally, this shift to the cloud has also reduced the need for costly on-site visits to plants and production facilities. With OT assets no longer isolated from the internet, this allows much quicker fixes to potential production failures or any related issues that once required a person to be physically present.
On the flipside, there’s a significant amount of ICS risk introduced by this shift that CISOs and other security leaders have to contend with. Once these previously airgapped systems are online, threat actors can attempt to use nefarious means to gain access to them, which could jeopardize equipment, and worker and public safety.
With a slew of new risks being introduced by cloud connectivity, it’s important to understand how each of them could potentially impact your business. Here’s an overview of the ones you should keep at top of mind.
Misconfigured or unpatched cloud interfaces are all too common for attackers to exploit. A successful breach here can provide an attacker with a direct path into your organization’s ICS. To make matters worse, if your network isn’t segmented properly, it could be easy for the attacker to move laterally across the network to cause even more disruptions.
If not properly encrypted, data that travels between your ICS and the cloud is a critical point of vulnerability. The data can be intercepted fairly easily by a man-in-the-middle attack, leading to data manipulation or DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks that could crash vital processes. Other scenarios could include manipulated data being fed to control systems that puts systems or operators at risk.
In cloud-based information systems, it can be difficult for CISOs to understand their responsibilities versus those handled by the cloud provider. Typically, the provider is responsible for the security of the underlying infrastructure, but their customers are often responsible for a wider range of critical security controls, including remote access, data protection, role-based access, incident response, and others. Understanding roles in this shared security model is tantamount to keeping your organization protected.
To follow up on the previous point, security teams might not have complete visibility into a cloud platform. If this is the case, it can limit their ability to identify anything that’s misconfigured on the cloud provider’s end, which can create blind spots that attackers can easily exploit.
If your cloud provider is hit by a ransomware attack or exploit targeting unpatched vulnerabilities, it can spell disaster. The attack could potentially spill over from their infrastructure to yours, jeopardizing your ICS security protections. This could affect anything from your operational data to other sensitive information.
Of course, none of the above scenarios are foregone conclusions. Keeping an airtight security strategy to defend against cloud-based risks to ICS is key to keeping your organization safe from harm. Here are some key strategies to consider:
Data is constantly flowing to and from the cloud during day-to-day operations. It’s best to implement continuous monitoring of that data to get real-time visibility, enabling you to quickly detect and respond to any incident or unusual activity.
Never trust, always verify. The benefits of zero trust are many, but adding it to your ICS environment is a must. It ensures that no user, device, or application is trusted by default—regardless of location. When access privileges must be continuously verified, it limits the potential for attacks on the network.
It starts with multi-factor authentication (MFA), but secure remote access also means enforcing the policy of least privilege—meaning users only have access to the systems they need to do their jobs. Keeping a log of all access attempts can also be a good way to quickly identify suspicious activity.
With the constant flow of data happening between your control systems and the cloud, encrypting that data is a must. Use the right protocols for encryption to protect your data from the examples listed above, including man-in-the-middle attacks and data manipulation.
By taking these steps, your organization can get the most out of cloud connectivity while taking a proactive approach to managing the cybersecurity risks that come with it.
A robust ICS security strategy can be the fortress that protects your organization. Whereas it was once about building a moat, so to speak—using traditional security measures like firewalls, jump servers, and VPNs—the current threat landscape demands a more holistic approach.
That’s where partnering with the right vendor can make the difference between staying secure and scrambling to respond to an incident. The Claroty Platform is purpose-built to protect ICS environments that are newly connected to the cloud. WIth comprehensive protection that includes asset inventory, exposure management, secure access, and complete network protection, the platform gives CISOs the tools they need to keep their unique environments safe from attacks.
Explore more about the Claroty Platform here, or schedule your own demo with one of our experts.
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