Zero Belief Community Entry (ZTNA) is a safe distant entry service. It verifies distant customers and grants them entry to the appropriate assets on the proper instances based mostly on id and context insurance policies. That is half 3 in our weblog sequence about ZTNA for operational expertise (OT). Take a look at Half 1 for why ZTNA beats out always-on VPNs for OT distant entry and Half 2 for a 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 amenities with the strictest bodily entry controls. Even should you 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 may step in to cease it. And if issues crop up after the go to, reviewing a recording may help pinpoint what went unsuitable.

Monitoring and recording actions are equally important on the subject of distant customers accessing your OT networks. It’s not sufficient to confirm the id of distant workers, 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 classes. Most organizations lack that visibility at this time, a shortcoming for cybersecurity compliance, governance, the flexibility to cease and get well from breaches, and incident investigation.

Conveniently, Cisco Safe Tools Entry (SEA) offers you an all-in-one answer to grant distant entry, implement entry controls, and monitor and file distant session exercise. Listed below are 3 ways you may make the most of Cisco SEA to actively management OT distant entry.

1 – Monitor, be part of, and terminate energetic classes

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

2 – Keep a whole log of previous classes

Cybersecurity finest practices require sustaining an in depth historical past of all previous classes, 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 important infrastructure and OT safety requirements akin to ISA/IEC62443-3-3 require data 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, machine posture, and session actions. Or see who added new customers or new property to the system.

3 – Document classes to see what occurred

Optionally file classes for chosen property, just by deciding on the asset on the console and checking a field. Recordings enrich your audit path and will be significantly useful for troubleshooting. If an asset like a robotic arm, wind turbine, or freeway signal stops working, for instance, you may uncover {that a} vendor just lately 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 gear entry

Summing up, Cisco SEA offers 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 instances. 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 Tools Entry right here.

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