Like so many other factors in protecting cyber-physical system (CPS) environments, it’s critical to take a proactive approach. Threat actors and advanced persistent threats (APTs) — particularly those with nation-state backing — routinely carry out meticulous reconnaissance on a target before launching a cyberattack. And if you’re not always prepared to detect, contain, and counter that threat, it’s likely already too late.
What’s more, since CPS assets have so little tolerance for downtime and disruption, securing a CPS or operational technology (OT) environment presents distinct and greater challenges compared to traditional IT security. This is where threat intelligence can be a true difference-maker to your organization.
What is Threat Intelligence?
Threat intelligence consists of information that’s been aggregated, analyzed, and interpreted to provide the right context for threat-related decision-making. By bringing this invaluable insight together, such as indicators of compromise (IOCs), known threat actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and other information points, CISOs and IT teams can get a complete picture of what they’re up against.
Beyond this, though, threat intelligence can provide insight into an attacker’s motivations, capabilities, and tactics. This can then be used to understand possible targets within your organization. Let’s dive deeper into how threat intelligence can benefit you.
Key Benefits of Threat Intelligence
Threat intelligence can significantly benefit your CPS environment in myriad ways. Any method of gaining deep insight into the threat landscape can be a powerful tool in cyberdefense, but threat intelligence takes it to the next level. Here’s how.
1. Enhanced exposure management
Threat intelligence helps organizations reduce their exposure by identifying their exposure to any known threats and TTPs that attackers might be using.
2. Improved incident response
Organizations can use threat intelligence to enable faster detection and response to security incidents. This information can then be used to tailor unique response plans and bolster threat containment, leading to faster recoveries.
3. Informed decision-making
Knowledge is power. By understanding the threat landscape specific to your industry or unique environment, your organization is positioned to make informed decisions about resources and investments, and where to prioritize each.
4. Proactive defense
Go from being reactive to proactive about threats. Threat intelligence helps you prioritize mitigation strategies and remediation activities , including patching vulnerabilities, configuring security tools more effectively, and boosting monitoring capabilities.
It’s important to note, though, that these benefits don’t just come automatically. Due to its sensitive nature, implementing a threat intelligence strategy within CPS infrastructure can be challenging. Here’s how to navigate those challenges.
Navigating Strategies for Effective Threat Intelligence
In addition to their sensitive nature, the complexities of CPS and OT environments mean finding a solution that can address a number of tactical and operational challenges. Let’s take a look at what they are, and how threat intelligence can be applied to work through them.
Lack of Contextual Intelligence
Problem: OT and CPS environments use proprietary protocols that can vastly differ from traditional IT. They also have differing risk management priorities and use unique hardware, firmware, and software to stay operational. Because of this level of specificity, IT teams might miss critical threats that may be targeting unique assets or protocols.
Solution: Understand the “how” and the “why” within your own systems that might be putting a target on your back. Generic strategies for mitigating risk likely aren’t enough. This is where effective threat intelligence can provide deeper insight, potentially saving your organization from a disruptive incident.
Disruptive Implementation
Problem: Even seemingly minor changes to an CPS environment, such as reconfiguring network devices in response to new threat data, can cause unintended disruptions. Worst-case related scenarios include interruptions to patient care in hospitals, the possibility of industrial equipment failures, or safety related shutdowns that could put operators or the public at risk. Needless to say, when changes are required, it can take meticulous planning to ensure everything continues running smoothly.
Solution: Implementing a SaaS-based solution such as the Claroty Platform can help your organization reduce downtime and stay protected. Threat intelligence, combined with asset visibility, network protection, and exposure management capabilities, can help organizations make more informed decisions about which assets to prioritize first.
Integration with Existing IT Infrastructure
Problem: The divide between OT and IT systems comes into play here. Many organizations have established IT protocols and frameworks already in place, which makes integrating threat intelligence for an OT environment that much more complicated.
Solution: Building bridges between IT and OT can be difficult but entirely possible with the right amount of planning. It’s important to include customized integrations as well. Be sure the entire transition is performed by personnel with deep understanding of the operational context within OT, ensuring threat intelligence is relevant without disrupting the environment.
Claroty and CPS Threat Intelligence
Threat intelligence brings invaluable context and is built upon IOCs, TTPs, and other information points to paint a complete picture of what your organization may be up against. However, the challenges of implementing such intelligence into an CPS environment can be daunting.
The SaaS-based Claroty Platform includes threat intelligence that’s purpose-built for protecting CPS infrastructure. The resulting benefits for your organization include enhanced exposure and incident management, strengthened incident response, and a more proactive approach to cybersecurity. The Claroty Platform also provides:
Cyber Risk Reduction
Your security team gets contextualized insights by grouping threat intelligence around incidents, enabling them to analyze the impact on your environment and provide clear next steps for an investigation.
Proactive Risk Mitigation
Get specific and granular with exposure scenarios that address potential risks posed by threat actors. Then, get actionable recommendations for what to do if that real-world incident strikes.
Armed with contextualized insights and risk mitigation, you’ll be prepared for the unexpected with the Claroty Platform as your guide.
Schedule a free demo to learn more.
