Posts

“Engineering Out” Cyber Risk

/by

Process control engineers and system integrators keep a plant running and keep it safe. Lately, with the advent of Industrial IoT, digitalization, and Industry 4.o, they are increasingly called upon to keep it secure from cyber attacks as well.

Engineers are uniquely equipped for the job, according to researchers at the USA’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). With this understanding they have introduced principles of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) in a recently released document: the Cyber-Informed Engineering Implementation Guide.

An Engineering Approach

“CIE is an engineering approach that integrates cybersecurity considerations into the conception, design, build, and operation of any physical system that has digital connectivity, sensors, monitoring, or control,” says the guide. “This approach offers new opportunities to ‘engineer out’ cyber risk—that is, to use early design decisions and engineering controls to reduce, mitigate, and even eliminate the consequences of a cyber attack.”

Rather than calling in a cybersecurity team after the fact to harden the security of completed systems, the guide says that control engineers and system integrators must consider the real risks of intelligent, malicious intruders disrupting their systems at every step of a project—from concept and design to development, operating, maintaining and even its eventual replacement. An engineering approach considers not only digital monitoring, but the physical system itself—the devices, equipment, and physical controls.

Software and Services

Of course, the physical approach must combine with secure-by-design software and services, such as Skkynet provides, to optimize protection and minimize risk. Network and data security are particularly relevant in these times when production data is in such demand for analysis, AI, and third-party interests. In the guide, for example, Principle 3, Secure Information Architecture recommends Next Generation Firewalls (NGFW) and DMZs to segment networks, while Principle 5, Layered Defense, covers topics like diversity, redundancy, and system hardening to defend and degrade the system in a controlled way during a cyber incident.

Skkynet’s Cogent DataHub software running on-premise or as a service in the cloud has been addressing these needs for years. Its unique tunnel/mirror technology, combined with the ability to bring multiple industrial protocols into a single, unified namespace provides a secure platform for redundant connections through closed firewall ports and across DMZs. Using this tool, Skkynet account managers and technical staff reach out to educate, guide, and support system integrators and plant engineers through the process of designing and building secure data communications between operations technology (OT) and IT or cloud applications.

We believe Cyber-Informed Engineering is a valuable approach towards keeping industrial processes secure. Today, more than ever, each system integration project, from concept and design to development, operation, and maintenance—from the device in the field to the report on a manager’s desk—depends on sound cybersecurity principles. Skkynet’s secure-by-design software and services provide the flexibility and value required for full integration with physical systems to “engineer out” cyber risk.

Integrating Cybersecurity into System Design

/by

Would you build a highway up a steep mountain and then wait for cars to start falling off before installing guardrails?  That’s often how cybersecurity gets added to products and services—as an afterthought—according to a recent article in Harvard Business Review titled Cybersecurity Needs to Be Part of Your Product’s Design from the Start.

The article says that security must be intrinsically designed into new products, services, and business activities, rather than added on.  If not, those who attempt to secure the service or product later on may not fully understand how it works, leaving potential gaps that hackers can exploit.

A changing role

Like civil engineers who anticipate the risks of winding mountain roads, product and system designers need to be more proactive in their approach.  The role of cybersecurity has to change, according to the article.  It says, “To be successful, companies must ensure that their products, services, and business operations are proactively resilient to cyber attacks by changing the role of cybersecurity in digital innovation.”

Cybersecurity should become an intimate part of the innovation process.  It must be integrated into the design of each component as it is being built, as well as when these components are assembled into larger systems.  This expanded role calls for deep collaboration between design and security teams.  Designers need to share details for how the product or service is built and will function, while security experts must provide guidance on how to implement best practices at each step.

Skkynet’s approach

Product design at Skkynet has been following this model for decades.  Fully aware of the high risk of transporting mission-critical production data across insecure networks, our design and security teams collaborate continually in the development of Cogent DataHub software. For years our DHTP (DataHub Transport Protocol) has provided a solid cornerstone for secure OT/IT networking, giving access to production data without exposing the networks.

With the DataHub software as a basic component, and following our documented recommendations, process control engineers and system integrators are ready to design security into their system architectures, and implement it as they build them.  When new requirements come up, such as a need to isolate OT and IT networks using a DMZ, they are fully equipped—even able to surpass the security capabilities of major industrial protocols like OPC and MQTT.

There’s no chance of forgetting the guardrails on this highway.  They come pre-installed with each meter of pavement.  Skkynet’s tools are secure by design so that our customers can build security into their systems from start to finish.

Adding Security and Flexibility to MQTT

/by

The Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) recently published a case study titled Adding Security and Flexibility to MQTT in which an implementation of MQTT was made more secure, and at the same time more flexible, using Skkynet’s DataHub technology.

In a large wood processing plant in North America, managers had planned a data collection and integration system to cut production costs, improve output and enhance network security. However, their chosen protocol, MQTT, did not provide sufficient security and flexibility. The project depended on connecting multiple MQTT inputs to a single MQTT broker in the cloud, while also allowing plant personnel to consolidate, log, and analyze the data along the way. And they had to keep the production system secure behind a DMZ.

No conventional MQTT broker could do all that. Bit they found that DataHub software, with its MQTT Smart Broker, logging, tunnelling, and other features was well suited to the task.

Click here for full article

Calling for Resilience

/by

Tough times demand tough measures.  A recent convergence of three disruptive forces on industrial automation calls for resilience, according to the report of a recent survey from Claroty, The Global State Of Industrial Cybersecurity 2021: Resilience Amid Disruption.  These forces are: an increase in ransomware attacks, accelerated digital transformation, and a growing trend towards working remotely. What’s needed is more investment in improved technology and the hiring and training of staff, according to the majority of the 1,100 IT and OT (operations technology) security professionals interviewed.

The number of ransomware attacks sustained by industrial enterprises, and the costs involved, are staggering.  A full 80% of the companies surveyed were hit, including a breach of their OT/ICS (industrial control systems) for more than half of them.  Over 60% paid the ransom, with an average payment of around $500,000 USD, and over $5,000,000 for some.  That doesn’t count the cost of lost production downtime, which for the companies surveyed ranges from tens of thousands to millions of dollars per hour.

At the same time, the need for networking industrial data is stronger than ever.  Fully 90% of these companies report that they sped up adoption of digital transformation since the start of the pandemic, and don’t anticipate turning back.  Adding to that, working remotely has become a new normal.  Just 21% of the companies surveyed had their full staff working onsite in 2021, and only 27% expect to have everyone back working onsite after the pandemic.

Secure data communications are vital

Taken together these trends indicate a strong demand for secure data communications.  Claroty, the industrial cyber security company that sponsored the survey, offers five technical and procedural  recommendations.  For data communications, the report said maintaining proper segmentation between OT and IT networks can be a highly effective defense against ransomware:

“There are many business processes and applications that need to communicate across the IT/OT boundary, so organizations need to ensure this is done in a secure way. Ensuring an organization’s OT network and assets are isolated from IT in a manner that aligns with segmentation best practices can be a highly effective means of stopping the lateral spread of ransomware and other malware from IT to OT.”

Responding to this need for network isolation, Skkynet offers a wide range of secure solutions for in-plant, OT/IT, and cloud connectivity.  Industrial enterprises large and small have come to recognize the value of our secure-by-design approach that gives them full access to their production data while keeping their OT networks secure behind DMZs and fully closed firewalls.  Skkynet’s software and services answer the call for resilience.

White House Pushes for Security

/by

Since the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last month, the US government has become more vocal on the need for industrial cybersecurity. A recent memo from the White House to corporate executives and business leaders across the country urges them to protect their companies against hackers. Among the action items is the need to segment networks, to isolate OT from IT.

“It’s critically important that your corporate business functions and manufacturing/production operations are separated,” the memo states, “and that you carefully filter and limit internet access to operational networks, identify links between these networks and develop workarounds or manual controls to ensure ICS networks can be isolated and continue operating if your corporate network is compromised.”

The memo says that although the government is leading the fight against cyber attacks of all kinds, the private sector is also expected to play their part. They are urged to back up data, update systems, and test response plans and implementations. The memo also listed five best practices from the president’s Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, including:

  1. Multifactor authentication
  2. Endpoint detection
  3. Response to an incursion
  4. Encryption
  5. A capable security team
Isolate Control Networks

Most of the recommendations could apply to any system or network exposed to the Internet, but the White House also included one directly related to industrial systems: Segment your networks to protect operations. Industrial control system networks, it says, should be isolated so they can continue operating even when the management network is compromised.

This was the case with the Colonial Pipeline incident last month. Although the hack caused turmoil in the company and a week of problems for the whole East Coast of the US, it could have been much worse. If the hackers had been able to take control of the pipeline itself, we might have witnessed physical damage both to property and the environment.

To avoid such problems, isolating control networks is critical. This is best accomplished using a DMZ, a “demilitarized zone” that separates control systems from management systems. Using a DMZ ensures that there is no direct link between corporate networks and control networks, and that only known and authenticated actors can enter the system at all.

Skkynet recommends using a DMZ for OT/IT networking, and provides the software needed to seamlessly pass industrial data across a DMZ-enabled connection. Most industrial protocols require opening a firewall to access the data, but Skkynet’s patented DataHub architecture keeps all inbound firewall ports closed on both the control and corporate sides, while still allowing real-time, two-way data communication through the DMZ.

We are pleased to see support for securing industrial control systems coming from the White House and US government, as well as governments and agencies throughout the industrialized world. A more secure environment will keep costs down and production running smoothly by keeping hackers out of our control systems.

Emergency at Colonial Pipeline

/by

Another ransomware attack hit the headlines last week.  This time it’s Colonial Pipeline, the largest in the USA by some estimates, 8,850 km long, with carrying capacity of over 3 million barrels of petroleum products.  The attack has prompted the US Department of Transportation to issue an emergency declaration, easing restrictions on overland transport of supply by truck, a necessary but high-cost alternative for the company.

Colonial is wisely reluctant to release details, so we might never know exactly who did this or how it happened.  But that’s not the point.  One way or another, a malicious actor may have compromised a node on the IT network, which could have been used as a staging ground to launch an attack on the OT (Operations Technology) network.

What we do know is how to prevent that kind of attack from spreading.  There should be no need for emergency declarations.  As we have discussed previously, most people in the know―from government regulators and standards agencies to top management and on-site engineering staff―understand that you must isolate your networks.  In this age of cloud, IoT, and digital transformation, when it is becoming possible to connect everything together, we also need to implement ways to keep things separate.

A Well-Known Solution

Isolating a control network from an IT network is not difficult.  The technology has been around for decades.  It involves inserting a defensive layer, a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between the two networks, and using firewalls to protect them.

The challenge lies in moving production data securely across the DMZ in real time.  This is where Skkynet’s DataHub technology shines.  The DataHub can connect to equipment and SCADA systems on the industrial side, and pass that data through the DMZ to the IT side, without opening any firewall ports on either side.

We hope Colonial Pipeline recovers quickly from this emergency, and that oil and gas will soon begin to flow again up the East Coast of the USA.  Meanwhile, we encourage others to heed this wake-up call.  The attack surface of an entire company is huge.  Persistent hackers are bound to find their way in, eventually.  The best way to prevent damage to the production systems is to isolate the corporate network from the control network and insert a DMZ.  They may get that far, but no farther.