The Industrial Control System – Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has highlighted the increased frequency of attempted attacks against Industrial Control Systems (ICS). According to a DHS/FBI/NSA joint publication “Seven Steps to Effectively Defend Industrial Control Systems,” of the 295 breaches reported in the previous year, 98 percent could have been prevented if certain basic security protocols had been in place.
As evidenced by the Ukraine Power Grid Attack and other recent breaches, privileged accounts are on the attackers critical path to success 100% of the time in every attack. Let’s elevate the conversation and talk about how this attack vector is taking the industrial world by surprise. In this session, Alex Leemon will present the case studies of two companies that have put in place proactive controls to safeguard industrial control systems from malicious insiders or external threats by implementing privileged account security controls as recommended by the DHS/FBI/NSA publication.
Attendees will also learn how to mitigate the risks associated with the increased connectivity between IT and OT through the implementation of controls that can be used to isolate, control and monitor interactive remote access sessions which connect to ICS.
With cyber-attacks posing an increasing threat to critical infrastructure, a change of mindset is needed – one that presumes an attacker will inevitably infiltrate the network. It only takes one vulnerable system to be exploited for an attacker to cause significant damage that could compromise system performance and even their operation. It is therefore essential that industrial organizations proactively safeguard their systems with a practical set of steps that includes securing all privileged accounts existing in their networks.
Learning Objectives:
In this session, attendees will learn how organizations have applied the steps recommended by the DHS/FBI/NSA publication to safeguard industrial control systems. Attendees will learn how to lock up the “keys to the kingdom” through the implementation of a privileged account security solution while safeguarding critical assets from potentially malicious activity.
Attendees will also learn how to:
