Over the weekend, the Alpharetta, GA based Colonial Pipeline was hit by an extensive ransomware attack that shut down its information technology (IT) and industrial operational technology (OT) systems. Simply put, an all-too-common ransomware event targeting IT systems encouraged a voluntary shutdown on the production side (OT) of the business to prevent further exposure. Colonial Pipeline is responsible for 45% of the gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas transported from Texas to New Jersey. A shutdown of this magnitude has the potential to net economic impact and reiterates the need to safeguard our critical industrial systems.

In today’s global quest for more data, incremental efficiency gains and desire to apply artificial intelligence (AI), numerous industries are connecting their OT systems to both the internet and other IT systems. For Colonial, the incident appears to be isolated to IT functions, but the nature of a converged environment presents implications for operations. Here are a few solutions to consider that can mitigate cyber risk (IT) and production risk (OT):

Increasing IT and OT Visibility

Beyond this specific event, industrial companies and utilities are increasingly becoming a target for cybercriminals because there is often limited visibility and monitoring of the OT devices on their industrial networks. Additionally, with IT and OT beginning to converge and more devices becoming accessible, there is a need to have complete visibility from the C-suite to the sensor. Here we saw the direct impact of an IT event on OT systems, which reinforces the importance of maintaining visibility of assets across your entire network.

Government Support

Recently, the Biden administration issued a 100-day sprint to identify weaknesses in electrical infrastructure, along with a Request for Information (RFI) from the Department of Energy (DOE) regarding supply chain risks to the U.S. electric system.  In parallel, recent Senate (Read more...)