The Current Threat Landscape in Industrial Cybersecurity
Industrial operations are facing relentless compliance demands, rising cyber threats and pressure to align IT and OT cybersecurity while managing lean budgets and limited resources. Manufacturers are often unable to define the vision required to create a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for OT or understand the acceptable level of risk for their organization. Having an OT-specific cybersecurity policy will allow for strategic vision from an operational and behavioral perspective. Securing OT is not just about tools and technology, we must consider people, processes and behavior as well.
Due to the unique challenges of OT, traditional IT security measures aren’t enough to protect OT environments. OT Policies and Procedures from Rockwell Automation help close critical gaps with purpose-built governance frameworks designed for the plant floor, enabling customers to mature faster, while supporting production goals.
Overview
OT cybersecurity policy and procedures are a fundamental part of an industrial organization’s cybersecurity strategy, defining how to address important functions and requirements related to securing the OT environment and how employees should act regarding cybersecurity.
Many manufacturing facilities have an aging infrastructure, relying on legacy and/or obsolete assets and systems that were not designed to be cyber-secure. These assets present vulnerabilities for cyber threats and may require significant upgrades or replacements to improve security, which typically means taking systems, and production, offline. The inherent complexity of OT infrastructures means many manufacturers lack visibility to their assets, vulnerabilities and their overall risk landscape. Something that you’ll hear often is that “you can’t protect what you can’t see,” and when 80% of vulnerabilities reside deep within the control system network¹, that makes it incredibly challenging to remediate those vulnerabilities unless you have that visibility. Also, the regulatory landscape is evolving and changing significantly, adding to the pressure to increase visibility to maintain compliance. Regional and local regulations are now requiring manufacturers to implement robust cybersecurity measures or be faced with severe, costly penalties, legal repercussions and reputational damage as well.
Lastly, the interconnected nature of supply chains means that a security breach in one part of the chain can affect the entire network. According to the Fortinet OT Cybersecurity report, 65% of attacks on manufacturers expand into supply chains². Confirming the security of all partners and suppliers is crucial for maintaining overall security. With more digitally enabled operations in this complex security climate, it’s really a perfect storm for manufacturers—reinforcing that secure digital operations is more important than ever.
IT vs OT: Why OT Policies and Procedures are Important
Investing in OT cybersecurity policies and procedures helps bridge the gap between IT and OT, enabling clear governance and communication channels. OT policies and procedures provide a turnkey governance framework that helps industrial operators demonstrate compliance and advance maturity without slowing production or forcing IT-centric policies onto OT.
A dedicated OT policy defines clear objectives and guiding principles that strengthen cyber posture and complement safety, physical and IT security consistently across organizations. This provides the secure foundation for digital transformation, IT/OT convergence and smart manufacturing.
Common challenges to having no defined OT policies and procedures include a lack of defined ownership or access control of assets on the plant floor, no defined maintenance plans for security updates and poorly maintained asset inventories.
Key Components of an OT Cybersecurity Policy
An effective OT cybersecurity policy focuses on safety and availability, prioritizing asset inventory, network segmentation, secure remote access with multi-factor authentication, vulnerability management and continuous monitoring. With OT policies and procedures, customers can satisfy regulations faster, raise cyber maturity quickly and align IT, OT and business stakeholders in a unified approach to securing the OT.
Key components of an OT cybersecurity policy include:
- Clear objectives: goals aligned with business priorities and risk tolerance
- Defined roles: accountability and ownership for OT security
- Asset visibility: accurate inventory of OT systems
- Access control: rules for authentication, authorization and remote access
- Network segmentations: isolating critical systems to reduce attack surface
- Patch management: consistent process to address vulnerabilities
- Incident response: playbooks for detection, response and recovery
- Supply chain security: controls for third-party vendors
- Compliance alignment: IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82, NIST CSF 2.0
- Training & awareness: building a cyber-aware culture
What OT Policies and Procedures Deliver
OT policies and procedures deliver enhanced safety, high reliability and optimized performance for industrial control systems, critical infrastructure and manufacturing processes. They help maintain secure, compliant and efficient operations by managing risks, reducing downtime and protecting physical assets from both cyberattacks and operational failures.
OT policies and procedures deliver:
- Clarity and focus on specific requirement, risks, controls and procedures
- Regulatory compliance, confirming efforts are directly aligned with the specific OT standards and guidelines
- Operational specificity that accounts for unique operational characteristics of industrial control systems
In principle, these policies shift OT environments from reliance on physical isolation to a proactive, modern, robust and secure posture that supports digital transformation without sacrificing safety.
IT/OT Convergence: How SecureOT from Rockwell Automation Bridges the Gap
OT Policies and Procedures from Rockwell Automation ensure the protection of OT systems, safeguarding customers critical infrastructure, manufacturing processes and data from cyber threats. SecureOT, the industrial cybersecurity solution suite from Rockwell Automation, brings industry and cybersecurity expertise together to bring an OT specific cyber policy with procedures aimed at providing a robust and proactive approach to securing the environment.
The customer-centric focus of SecureOT offers a tailored approach delivering a set of procedures that meet customer requirements and business outcomes. The flexible approach from Rockwell Automation meets customers where they are with their maturity, providing a foundational set of documentation that they can build upon themselves or provide the expertise to tailor to their environment. This type of approach helps with scalability, compliance and regulatory requirements within the customer’s specific industry. SecureOT has proven expertise with decades of industrial automation and OT cybersecurity best practices.
