When it comes to cybersecurity, industrial IT—consisting mainly of operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS)—has failed to keep up with development in the enterprise IT world. That’s mostly because industries’ adoption of internet technology has been slower when compared with enterprises.

It would take some time to close the gap, but concerted efforts have already been made to upgrade the security of industrial IT and improve the efficiency of OT and ICS. These are reflected in the emergence of multiple standards and guidelines for the cyber-protection of industrial systems.

Unfortunately, it seems that Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) needs to catch up to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices that we all use. What are some of the major considerations for developing industrial cybersecurity standards?

Security by Design

Cyber attackers often launch their assaults by manipulating the functioning of a system. Building systems with security in mind ensures that they have robust defense mechanisms against cyber-attacks. Security by design is implemented by anticipating attacks and patching security holes in accordance with global cybersecurity standards.

Gone are the days when only asset owners were responsible for securing their systems. Now there is a base level of inherent and customized cybersecurity configurations organizations can specify when acquiring industrial systems from suppliers. According to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, “a key milestone of the design phase is validation that the system cybersecurity specifications match the needs and risk disposition of the organization….”

According to Kaspersky’s The State of Industrial Cybersecurity 2020 survey, the two biggest tech trends that are leading to revised industrial cybersecurity practices are Industrial IoT and cloud computing at 55% each. As industries become more connected and controlling infrastructure goes remote, companies need to adjust their cybersecurity priorities to meet the changing needs of an increasingly (Read more...)