OT and IT Integration: Awareness, Challenges and Opportunities

31 May 2021
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Author: HSD Foundation

On Monday 31 May, HSD Office published a report on the “Implications of OT and IT Integration for Cyber Security”. We have three goals with this report. First of all, we are raising awareness about OT security, a part of security that is often overlooked. Second, we are identifying challenges of OT-IT Integration. Third, we are presenting opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the OT-IT domain. These three, awareness, challenges and opportunities, are not solitary in nature. It is therefore important to advance a holistic approach concerning agenda setting, best-practices and an advisory knowledge centre. That is why we have set up an OT Community of Practice. 

 

OT is prevalent in the critical infrastructure and the industrial sector. With the raise of technologies such as Big Data, Data Analytics and the Internet of Things, more and more organisations have increasing business needs to integrate OT with IT networks. Numerous challenges on the general as well as the technical level threaten secure operations due to increasing cyber risk. Responsibilities are unclear, awareness is still lacking, and communication is suboptimal. All this makes that OT is left with cyber security difficulties.

 

The OT working field has indicated what the ideal situation should be: learning from each other by (voluntary) exchanging incidents and approaches. The potential of this information exchange finds itself in the merging of established knowledge, knowledge circulation and innovative ideas and products, leading to even more secure and safe OT environments. 

 

‘Join forces and form consortia’ is the advised doctrine to establish this ideal situation of knowledge sharing and knowledge circulation. Besides exchanging knowledge and experiences, it’s imperative that concrete steps are taken to improve the digital resilience of OT in companies. Segmentation of the OT network, a clear insight in legislation and security standards are of great importance.

 

As mentioned above, HSD has established an OT Security Community of practice. The following partners have been involved: Hudson Cybertec, Thales, Nixu, Deloitte, Hoogendoorn, Batenburg, Niagara Networks, ASML, Volkerwessels, TNO, Booz Allen Hamilton, Secura, Ureasons, Rijnland, de Haagse Hogeschool, Onedyas, ANVS, HHSK and SBL Cybersecurity.

 

Within this Community of Practice we come together to exchange best practice and knowledge, collaborate on a shared knowledge platform, better position the field of OT security and lastly to explore opportunities for applied research and a national OT cyberlab.

 

If you are interested in learning more about the OT Security Community of Practice, please contact Bert Feskens at Bert.Feskens@thehaguesecuritydelta.com

HSD Partners involved