ABB, Wärtsilä: Founding members of global cyber security alliance for OT

Wärtsilä and ABB partner for the launch of the Operational Technology Cyber Security Alliance (OTCSA), which aims to bridge dangerous gaps in security for operational technology and industrial control systems.

Specifically, Operational Technology (OT) includes the hardware and software used to control physical systems such as machinery in factories, power stations, ships or ports. The Internet of Things (IoT) and interconnectedness of production systems in smart factories means that there is a significantly and rapidly growing risk of serious security breaches in these environments.

Additional founding members of the Alliance are Check Point Software, BlackBerry Cylance, Forescout, Fortinet, Microsoft, Mocana, NCC Group, Qualys, SCADAFence and Splunk.

The OTCSA provides tangible architectural, implementation, and process guidelines to OT operators and solution providers. The guidelines also include a lifecycle – procurement, development, deployment, installation, operation, maintenance and decommission – and address aspects related to people, process, and technology.

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The Alliances aims to:

1. Boost cyber-physical risk posture of OT environments and interfaces for OT/IT interconnectivity;
2. Provide guidance to OT operators on how to protect their OT infrastructure based on a risk management process and reference architectures/designs which are demonstrably compliant with regulations and international standards such as IEC 62443;
3. Guide OT suppliers on secure OT system architectures, relevant interfaces and security functionalities;
4. Support the procurement, development, installation, operation, maintenance, and implementation of a safer, more secure critical infrastructure;
5. Accelerate the time to adoption of safer, more secure critical infrastructures.

In light of the initiative, Mark Milford, Vice President, Cyber Security at Wärtsilä commented that

The compromise of operational technology used in production facilities is becoming a preferred stepping stone for cyber criminals looking to find a way into a company’s network.