Perfect Ways to Improve OT Security from Alina Mark's blog

We need modern vulnerability management tools to proactively manage security posture amidst increasing IT and OT network complexities. Without complete network visibility of the IT-OT attack surface, rest in knowing teams will struggle to see misconfigurations and understand vulnerability exposure.

Things are no different when they have to identify access policy violations, tackle weak security controls, and improve change management capabilities. That’s why organizations must strive to improve their OT security. And this is how they can make it possible:

Implement Automation

The propensity of human error to muck IT and OT security is a problem that won’t go away any time soon. Luckily, automation is now with us since it is vital to maximizing security posture. Automating workflows removes human errors, reduces the risk of misconfigurations, and streamlines operations.

You don’t have to go overboard since a simple hack leveraging automated closed-loop workflows for firewall rule creation can do the trick. After all, it is the ideal way to limit vulnerability exposures and maintain continuous compliance. For large organizations, this type of automation is perfect for minimizing network risks.

Remove Silos for Unified Security Efforts

Be sure to create a standard view, processes, and communications, as it is the ideal way to eliminate silos between security, IT, and plant managers. You should also mitigate the security blind spots through the sharing of comprehensive data sets across teams, assets, and infrastructure. Keep in mind this transparency allows for the collection, normalization, and optimization of data sets.

The sheer ability to connect, aggregate, analyze and normalize data is enough to allow teams to speak the same security language. Furthermore, they can work together to find and prioritize vital vulnerabilities to improve security resilience and limit downtime.

Improving OT security doesn’t have to be stressful as it seems at times. Provided you employ the correct measures, rest in knowing good things are destined to come your way. It is in your best interest to remediate with options that go beyond patching. In addition, use the network model to find exposed vulnerabilities without going through a lot.