ABSTRACT
Operational technology (OT) is hardware and software that detects or causes a change through the direct monitoring and/or control of physical devices, processes and events in the enterprise. OT is common in industrial control systems, such as distributed control systems and supervisory control and data acquisition systems. Cybersecurity is a major threat to organizations of all kinds. However, until recently, relatively few companies considered the potential risk of attacks on their production and manufacturing environments. Yet, there are serious vulnerabilities, for reasons including the expansion of connectivity in these environments or the use of legacy operating systems. Organizations need to act to protect themselves and gain competitive advantage in their market. In many organizations, OT systems have been treated as an integral part of production machinery rather than computerized information systems; thus, the ultimate responsibility of its operation, including issues of security, is assigned to manufacturing maintenance teams.
