A cyber command can have physical consequences
A perfectly valid command, sent by the wrong person, produces physical effects that no amount of data recovery undoes.
Nothing needs to be broken or exploited. If an attacker can issue legitimate instructions, the system does what it is designed to do. That is what makes access control at the command path so much more important here than intrusion detection, and why integrity of instructions matters more than confidentiality of data.
More on OT and ICS
- 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