Industry 4.0: SOC analysts turn data into action

The convergence of IT and OT will continue to accelerate, as will the convergence of OT-related security products, from exposure management to integration between multiple OT security vendors. This requires organizations to take a more holistic view of their security practices in the coming year.

As operational technology (OT) components such as industrial control systems (ICS) are increasingly connected to the network, it is essential to extend visibility and security to these networked domains. For companies with an existing SOC, regardless of the model, data from OT systems can and should be integrated to better manage the cybersecurity risks of all connected devices. OT data in the SOC is the best way to detect and deal with OT security events before they become incidents.

Although the decision to migrate to a converged SOC is important, it will take time and thought to execute. OT systems come with security challenges that are unique and will require deeper knowledge and understanding on the part of the SOC team. The only way to truly bring IT and OT together in a single SOC is to create a culture of unity, starting from the top down.

To embrace the inevitable convergence of IT and OT teams and achieve a high-functioning, cost-effective SOC across the entire SOC enterprise, companies need better visibility of OT and IoT infrastructure and threats. But getting the right level of visibility into OT assets can be a challenge, as these systems include specialized hardware, unusual or unknown protocols and limited security features. The starting point for effectively introducing OT data into your SOC environment is to implement continuous monitoring technology for the OT environment to identify assets and connections and proactively detect potential threats.

With continuous monitoring, threat intelligence and AI-generated analyses, analysts gain situational awareness to focus on the security events, traffic, and changes that matter most.

Timely and accurate triage of IT and OT security events helps analysts prioritize the security events that matter most. Analysis can be done passively and actively to assess risk and risk tolerance in your environment.

An important consideration for OT environments is that automating response actions, such as isolating compromised hosts, disabling accounts or blocking IPs, is not always feasible due to the possible impacts on security, old equipment, unplanned downtime and more.

When selecting an OT security and visibility solution, make sure that it:

– Offer superior real-time OT and IoT threat monitoring that reduces average detection and response times.

– Provide a comprehensive OT network visualization and asset inventory, without risk to the industrial process.

– It empowers security analysts to quickly address threats with TO-specific alerts, alert aggregation, dashboards and forensic tools. For many organizations, it’s easier to close the skills gap by training IT staff in OT sensitivities than by training OT staff in IT cybersecurity skills.

– It integrates seamlessly into the IT infrastructure, easily sharing data with existing applications and assets.

– Includes pre-built integrations with SOC tools.

– It is implemented quickly and easily with mature technology and ISO 9001 certification.

– It consolidates information from various industrial sites and is scaled to meet the needs of very large distributed organizations.

Companies with an IT/OT SOC will have better threat detection and response metrics, better cyber resilience and an overall reduction in cyber risk.