Zero Belief Community Entry (ZTNA) is a safe distant entry service. It verifies distant customers and grants them entry to the fitting assets on the proper occasions based mostly on id and context insurance policies. That is half 3 in our weblog collection about ZTNA for operational expertise (OT). Try Half 1 for why ZTNA beats out always-on VPNs for OT distant entry and Half 2 for the way ZTNA reduces the assault floor by limiting entry strategies and verifying distant customers’ safety posture.

Video cameras are in all places, together with in services with the strictest bodily entry controls. Even if you happen to belief a person to enter a delicate space, you continue to want to observe their actions as soon as they’re within the door. Seeing a suspicious exercise, you possibly can step in to cease it. And if issues crop up after the go to, reviewing a recording can assist pinpoint what went fallacious.

Monitoring and recording actions are equally crucial in the case of distant customers accessing your OT networks. It’s not sufficient to confirm the id of distant staff, distributors, and contractors. Neither is it sufficient to know who’s linked to what OT/ICS property. You additionally have to know what customers are doing throughout distant entry periods. Most organizations lack that visibility right now, a shortcoming for cybersecurity compliance, governance, the power to cease and get well from breaches, and incident investigation.

Conveniently, Cisco Safe Gear Entry (SEA) provides you an all-in-one answer to grant distant entry, implement entry controls, and monitor and document distant session exercise. Listed below are 3 ways you possibly can reap the benefits of Cisco SEA to actively management OT distant entry.

1 – Monitor, be part of, and terminate lively periods

See an inventory of all lively periods on the Cisco SEA console. By clicking on the session between ‘Consumer A’ and ‘Asset B’ you possibly can watch session actions as they occur, together with instructions despatched to the asset. Watching a vendor configure an OT/ICS asset might be useful for coaching, for instance. And if you happen to see one thing suspicious, like an try to vary the code or a variable in a programmable logic controller (PLC), you possibly can terminate the session with a click on and disconnect the distant person. Distant session termination is required by ISA/IEC62443-3-3 FR2.

2 – Keep a whole log of previous periods

Cybersecurity greatest practices require sustaining an in depth historical past of all previous periods, helpful for safety audits, forensic investigations, and regulatory compliance. The EU’s NIS2 Directive, for instance, requires a full audit path for each occasion that impacts crucial infrastructure and OT safety requirements similar to ISA/IEC62443-3-3 require information of all login makes an attempt. Cisco SEA logs each system-generated and user-generated occasions. For instance, overview how distant customers authenticate, together with usernames, time, system posture, and session actions. Or see who added new customers or new property to the system.

3 – Document periods to see what occurred

Optionally document periods for chosen property, just by deciding on the asset on the console and checking a field. Recordings enrich your audit path and might be significantly useful for troubleshooting. If an asset like a robotic arm, wind turbine, or freeway signal stops working, for instance, you would possibly uncover {that a} vendor not too long ago upgraded the software program or made a typo in a brand new configuration. Sooner troubleshooting helps you place the asset again into manufacturing sooner.

Maintain it easy, with an all-in-one answer for safe tools entry

Summing up, Cisco SEA provides you a single interface to guard your ICS and OT property with ZTNA. Require all distant customers to authenticate by way of a single level. Management which property they’ll entry and at what occasions. And do what a video digital camera does by monitoring all distant session actions and recording information for safety audits.

Study extra about Cisco Safe Gear Entry right here.

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