ABB and Wärtsilä are among the founding members of the new Operational Technology Cyber Security Alliance (OTCSA), a group aiming to provide a framework to improve the cyber resilience of industrial operational technology.
Operational technology (OT) encompasses the hardware and software used to control physical systems such as machinery in ships, ports, factories or power stations. The greater interconnectedness between these systems created by the expanding use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is also increasing the cyber risk involved in their operation, a situation the new alliance aims to improve.
“We are confident the OTCSA will deliver a framework for much-needed solutions, at a time when industrial customers live in a world of increasingly sophisticated threats, putting organisations at risk of potentially catastrophic losses,” said Satish Gannu, Chief Security Officer, ABB and Senior Vice President Architecture and Analytics, ABB Ability.
“Critical infrastructures and industrial control systems are essential to organisation revenue and profits and the global economy. Industry collaboration to establish architectural, implementation and process guidelines is required to quickly advance the posture of OT, which is already a decade behind IT when it comes to security.”
Other founding members in the OTCSA include Check Point Software, BlackBerry Cylance, Forescout, Fortinet, Microsoft, Mocana, NCC Group, Qualys, SCADAFence and Splunk.
The group aims to provide tangible architectural, implementation, and process guidelines to OT operators and system providers. These security guidelines will cover the entire asset lifecycle – procurement, development, deployment, installation, operation, maintenance and decommission – and address aspects related to people, process, and technology.
