OT, ICS & cyber-physical

Estates you cannot take offline. Where a security decision has a physical consequence.

34 sketches

• OT incident responseThe runbook does not apply
• OT securityThe control can be the hazard
• PLC securityIt obeys whoever gets there
• SCADAA word stretched past its meaning
• USB in OTThe bridge is carried by hand
• Asset discovery in OTThe roll call knocks it over
• Converged IT/OTOne cable, two deliveries
• Engineering workstationsThe most powerful machine on the plant
• Historian serversThe hatch in the wall
• Industrial protocolsIt never asks who is speaking
• Legacy controllersYou cannot lift it out while it runs
• Patching OTThe patch that has to wait
• Physical process impactThe worst case is not the data
• Remote vendor accessThe plank nobody took away
• Safety and securityNever in front of the stop
• Safety systemsTwo systems, or one
• Segmentation in OTThe stairs and the holes
• A cyber command can have physical consequencesThe keystroke has a lever on the end
• Legacy does not mean unnecessaryOld, and holding the whole line
• Patching OT requires process contextThe patch waits for the plant
• Segmentation protects process zonesBulkheads, not one big hold
• Remote maintenance changes the plant perimeterThe fence now goes round their kitchen table
• Process anomalies can be security signalsThe plant noticed first
• Asset discovery must not disrupt fragile systemsListen to it, do not knock on it
• A default password scales into a fleet vulnerabilityOne word, printed a million times
• Physical access changes the embedded threat modelThe lid was the threat model
• Firmware updates are a long-term security promiseYou sold the box, you signed up for the years
• Secure boot protects the startup chainEach link checks the next
• Device identity should be uniqueAll answering to one name
• Cloud shutdown can strand smart devicesThe strings came from elsewhere
• Sensors can be fooled without hacking softwareNo code was touched
• Debug interfaces are production interfaces if accessibleThe service hatch is a door
• IoT privacy risk grows as many small observations accumulate into a detailed pictureDot by dot, a person appears
• End-of-support is a security eventThe rain did not stop