The turtle, protected by its arduous shell, is an effective metaphor for the safety mannequin utilized in most industrial networks. The commercial DMZ (iDMZ) is the shell that protects the gentle, weak heart—the economic management techniques (ICS) the enterprise is determined by.

However whereas the iDMZ blocks most threats, some will inevitably slip via. After they do, they will transfer sideways from gadget to gadget, probably inflicting downtime and knowledge leakage. Giving site visitors free rein as soon as it makes it previous the iDMZ conflicts with the zero-trust safety precept to by no means belief, at all times confirm. And as corporations look to “digitize” manufacturing and apply extra cloud-based companies also called Trade 4.0, extra units want entry to manufacturing techniques.

The reply is micro-segmentation—however there’s a barrier

You may restrict the unfold of malware that makes it previous the iDMZ utilizing a method known as micro-segmentation. The concept is to tightly prohibit which units can talk and what they will say, confining the harm from cyberattacks to the fewest variety of units. It’s an instance of zero-trust in motion: as an alternative of taking it on religion that units solely discuss to one another for reliable causes, you lay down the principles. An HVAC system shouldn’t be speaking to a robotic, for instance. Whether it is, the HVAC system could have been commandeered by a nasty actor who’s now traipsing via the community to disrupt techniques or exfiltrate info.

So why isn’t each industrial group already utilizing micro-segmentation? The barrier I hear most frequently from our prospects is a scarcity of safety visibility. To micro-segment your community it is advisable know each gadget related to your community, which different units and techniques it wants to speak to, and which protocols are in use. Missing this visibility can result in overly permissive insurance policies, rising the assault floor. Simply as unhealthy, you would possibly inadvertently block crucial device-to-device site visitors, disrupting manufacturing.

Achieve visibility into what’s on the community and the way they’re speaking

Excellent news: Cisco and our associate Rockwell Automation have built-in safety visibility into our Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) validated design. With Cisco Cyber Imaginative and prescient you possibly can rapidly see what’s in your community, which techniques discuss to one another, and what they’re saying. One buyer instructed me he realized from Cyber Imaginative and prescient that a few of his units had a hidden mobile backdoor!

Safety visibility has three large payoffs. One is consciousness of threats like that backdoor, or suspicious communications patterns just like the HVAC system speaking to the robotic. One other profit is offering the knowledge it is advisable create micro-segments. Lastly, visibility can probably decrease your cyber insurance coverage premiums. Some insurers provide you with a reduction or will improve protection limits in the event you can present you recognize what’s related to your community.

Visibility units the stage for micro-segmentation

When you perceive which units have a reliable want to speak, explicitly permit these communications by creating micro-segments, outlined by the ISA/IEC 62443 commonplace. Right here’s a good clarification of how micro-segments work. Briefly, you create zones containing a gaggle of units with related safety necessities, a transparent bodily border, and the necessity to discuss to one another. Conduits are the communication mechanisms (e.g. VLANs, routers, entry lists, and many others.) that permit or block communication between zones. On this manner, a risk that will get into one zone can’t simply transfer to a different.

Each Cisco and Rockwell Automation present instruments for segmenting the community. Use Cisco Id Companies Engine (ISE) for units that talk by way of any industrial protocol, together with HTTP, SSH, telnet, CIP, UDP, ICMP, and many others. To your CIP units, you possibly can implement even tighter controls over site visitors move utilizing Rockwell Automation’s CIP Safety, which secures manufacturing networks on the software degree. We now have a number of Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) on a spread of safety matters, many collectively developed and examined with Rockwell. Examples of our collaboration with Rockwell embody Converged Plantwide Ethernet, or CPwE, and the not too long ago added Safety Visibility for CPwE primarily based on Cisco Cyber Imaginative and prescient.

A lesson from nature

Combining an iDMZ with micro-segmentation is like mixing the protecting skills of a turtle and a lizard. Just like the turtle’s shell, the iDMZ helps preserve predators out. And like lizards who can drop their tails if a predator will get maintain, micro-segmentation limits harm from an assault.

Backside line: To get began with micro-segmentation—and probably decrease your cyber insurance coverage premiums—use Cyber Imaginative and prescient to see what units are in your community and what they’re saying.

To be taught extra about how Cisco and Rockwell might help strengthen OT/ICS safety with visibility for CPwE, be a part of us for a webinar on November 14. Register right here.

Be taught extra

Share: