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12 days of cybersecurity: Seven cybersecurity commandments

Dec. 15, 2019
12 days of cybersecurity: Day 4
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Though every user, application and organization should be well-aware of their primary cybersecurity tasks, they always bear repeating to get them fully instilled into an effective cybersecurity routine. They include but aren't limited to:

  1. Switch on passwords, enable other user and device authentications including two-factor when available, and enable basic anti-malware software.

  2. Isolate sensor, instrument, equipment, production and other operations technology (OT) networks from administrative, enterprise, corporate, Internet and other information technology (IT) networks with multiple managed Ethernet switches used as firewalls.

  3. Divide plant-floor operations into networks and sub-networks based on priority functions, criticality and safety with added firewalls.

  4. Establish publish-subscribe capabilities such as MQTT protocol and data diode that allow production to transmit data upwards, but don't allow incoming communications or software downloads.

  5. Collaborate with OT and IT to evaluate and select logical software patching policies.

  6. Educate, test, drill and retrain employees to follow security procedures, so they become habit and part of organization's culture.

  7. Implement continuous and routine network network traffic evaluation using IT-based software that can find, separate, reject and mitigate non-baseline communications, activities, probes and intrusions.

About the author: Jim Montague
About the Author

Jim Montague | Executive Editor

Jim Montague is executive editor of Control.