Risk Management November 22, 2022

Why Operational Technology Security Cannot Be Avoided

8 min read - Operational technology (OT) includes any hardware and software that directly monitors and controls industrial equipment and all its assets, processes and events to detect or initiate a change. Yet despite occupying a critical role in a large number of essential…

Energy & Utility August 16, 2022

X-Force 2022 Insights: An Expanding OT Threat Landscape

9 min read - This post was written with contributions from Dave McMillen. So far 2022 has seen international cyber security agencies issuing multiple alerts about malicious Russian cyber operations and potential attacks on critical infrastructure, the discovery of two new OT-specific pieces of…

Government July 25, 2022

U.S. Cybersecurity Policy Has Changed Since the Colonial Pipeline Attack

3 min read - More than a year ago, a ransomware attack made the news across the nation. The Colonial Pipeline Company announced on May 7, 2021, that the DarkSide Ransomware-as-a-Service group, based in eastern Europe, had hit it. The FBI has since confirmed…

Energy & Utility July 11, 2022

One Year After the Colonial Pipeline Attack, Regulation Is Still a Problem

3 min read - The Colonial Pipeline cyberattack is still causing ripples. Some of these federal mandates may mark major changes for operational technology (OT) cybersecurity. The privately held Colonial Pipeline company, which provides nearly half of the fuel used by the East Coast…

Malware April 13, 2022

Where Everything Old is New Again: Operational Technology and Ghosts of Malware Past

7 min read - This post was written with contributions from IBM Security X-Force’s Michael Worley. Operational technology (OT) — the networks that control industrial control system processes — face a more complex challenge than their IT counterparts when it comes to updating operating…

Incident Response December 18, 2021

Log4Shell Vulnerability Risks for OT Environments — and How You Can Better Protect Against Them

4 min read - You’d have to look far and wide to find an IT professional who isn’t aware of (and probably responding to) the Log4Shell vulnerability. The Operational Technology (OT) sector is no exception, yet the exact exposure the vulnerability poses to OT…

Incident Response December 10, 2021

IoT Security: Protecting Food and Agriculture Organizations

3 min read - Ransomware actors are targeting food and agriculture organizations, potentially disrupting business. Luckily, there are already formal structures in place to boost the IoT security defenses they need. Knowing them keeps the lifeblood of industrial farms and food delivery going. Businesses…

Identity & Access December 9, 2021

IAM OT Security Risks Call for Strategic Defenses

5 min read - Today’s technology requires today’s identity and access management (IAM). In the past, operational technology (OT) systems were physically and logically separated from a company’s enterprise corporate business environment and the external world. That served as a control to protect them…

Incident Response November 19, 2021

How to Design IoT Security From the Ground Up

4 min read - The Internet of Things (IoT) is a powerful boon to business. But it also represents a massive potential expansion of the cybersecurity attack surface. So far, IoT inclusion in many organizations has been poorly organized, haphazard and poorly planned. This…

Energy & Utility October 28, 2021

Roundup: 2021 Energy & Utility Data Breaches and Defenses in the News

3 min read - Ransomware is evolving. How long until it takes down operational technology? In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the United States, faced a ransomware attack. The company, which transports more than 100 million gallons of…