A Complete Guide to ICS Security Assessment

Jul 19, 2023

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Did you know that the average cost of data breaches worldwide was $4.35 million in 2022, with phishing being the most common form of attack?

Demand for ransom, locking critical data files, stealing sensitive data, etc., are common forms of attacks. Many industries bear the brunt in the form of high costs for data recovery, lack of reputation, poor business relationships, legal complications, etc. All these bring to light the need for cyber security assessment and analysis to provide an effective defense against threats.

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) security assessment involves evaluating the ICS of an organization for vulnerabilities and weaknesses and ensuring that effective controls are in place to defend against cybersecurity attacks. The assessment encompasses:

A cybersecurity audit is an evaluation of the security and strength of the ICS environment of an organization. Some of the essential steps in a cybersecurity audit are:

The scope of the audit, the networks that will be assessed, and the standards that must be adhered to are required to be defined as a first step.

The relevant ICS security policies and standards should be reviewed to understand what is in place at present.

The network architecture for critical and non-critical systems should be analyzed to check the segmentation of networks.

Cybersecurity audit also ensures that the ICS environment adheres to the industry standards, like IEC 62443.

A thorough network scanning should be done to assess the weaknesses of the ICS environment.

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Logging of incidents should be as per the best practices for an incident response plan. An audit will review this and provide information on lapses.

Once the audit of the ICS environment is complete, an audit report on the findings about vulnerabilities should be prepared. The report should also contain relevant recommendations for further action.

On the basis of the report, necessary follow-up actions should be taken to address the issues and weaknesses identified. Effective follow-up also helps keep a watch on emerging threats.

The CIA triad is a popular method for security assessment. CIA stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. All three aspects carry importance while reviewing the system for vulnerabilities and risk assessment. For safe operations of industrial processes, there should be a balance in confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Maintaining the privacy of the data of an organization and restricting unauthorized access are key parts of confidentiality. In this digital age, there are frequent attempts to compromise the safety of industrial control systems. Maintaining confidentiality involves maintaining safety by way of encryption, multi-factor authentication, labeling data, etc.

Integrity ensures that the data is reliable and trustworthy. Data is protected from unauthorized alteration to maintain the authenticity of the information through non-repudiation.

Data that is secure must also be available and accessible to the stakeholders. Timely availability of data without any interruption is of prime importance. Various acts, like natural disasters, ransomware attacks, denial-of-service, etc, can compromise availability.

The CIA triad method offers a comprehensive methodology for the assessment of security lapses. It helps identify what went wrong and how well the existing systems were able to protect the data.

Even technology leaders had to mitigate an average of 1,435 Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDOS) attacks daily in 2022.

This statement is an indicator of the gravity of the situation. Cybersecurity assessment is the need of the hour when the digital landscape is deluged with multiple types of cyberattacks. There have been instances of severe losses and compromises in many industries due to overlooking cyber security assessments.

Here are some cyber incidents that shook industries due to the lack of assessments.

All these necessitate timely intervention by assessments so that potential threats can be identified and defense mechanisms can be put into action.

Organizations follow different security standards based on industry requirements. We will discuss some of them here:

The set of standards in IEC 62443 offers guidelines for securing industrial automation and control systems. Such control systems are found in power plants, oil and gas plants, water treatment plants, etc. These standards provide assistance by way of informing the type of controls to be put in place in ICS platforms.

IEC 62443 is mainly used by industries in the industrial automation and control sector. With a comprehensive set of policies, they are considered one of the best to be followed by industries.

The NERC CIP are standards that are specific to the power grid sector. They are used to protect the security of electricity industries. These include:

These tools are widely used by analysts to identify and track vulnerabilities to amplify protection.

With this tool, analysts identify hosts that reside in a network. It helps detect threats and discover open ports and services. It can map an entire network and detect open ports easily.

This is a simple tool with a powerful ability. It can instantly recognize all routers, servers, switches, and mobile devices on single and multiple networks. It helps identify web servers and DNS servers that are running on a system. It has a GUI called Zenmap through which you can develop visual mappings of a network.

Visit Now: NMAP

Shodan is a search engine that helps find servers, routers, etc., on the internet using various filters. With Shodan, you can identify if any devices on the ICS are accessible through the internet.

Data collected by Shodan is comprehensive. It is in metadata format and contains data like hostname, geographical location, OS, and properties related to application layer protocols. This helps identify insecure devices.

Visit Now: Shodan

you can leverage Sectrio to conduct host discovery and vulnerability analysis and provide solutions to correct the vulnerability detected in the host. It is a remote scanning tool that sends an alarm if any malicious attempts are made.

Sectrio can scan and identify for any misconfigurations, DDOS attempts, default passwords/common passwords, malware breaches and unauthorized access to systems.

Request for an ICS vulnerability assessment with Risk and Gap analysis from Sectrio

This is a real-time diagnostic tool built exclusively for ICS. By maintaining data of fingerprints on the ICS network, any malicious attempts are easily diagnosed. This tool also allows tailor-made reports based on activity analysis.

Read More: Sophia

Cybersecurity Evaluation Tool helps organizations protect critical national assets. It offers a systematic approach for assessing the security posture of cyber systems. This tool has been developed by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Visit Now: CSET

The ICS Security risk assessment process in an ICS environment has four components:

All these components are interdependent and apply to the management of risks arising in information security, physical security, safety, and financial security.

The ICS network and corporate network should be separated while designing the network architecture for ICS. This is done to avoid DoS or man-in-the-middle attacks that may happen if ICS network traffic is carried out through a corporate network.

ICS security architecture includes the following:

Firewalls control the flow of network traffic between networks that use different safety postures. With the use of firewalls, organizations can prevent unauthorized access to systems in sensitive areas. Firewalls remove non-essential traffic from ICS network and enhance security.

Firewalls need to be monitored frequently for efficacy as emerging threats can escape existing protection. To prevent cyberattacks in an ICS environment, it is essential to have real-time firewall protection.

The ICS and corporate networks need to be separated to maintain security. Some of the possible methods to do this are:

Dual-homed computers pass network traffic from one network to another without proper security controls, thereby posing a significant threat. All connections between a corporate network and ICS network should be through a firewall only.

With a two-port firewall, there can be improvements in security. It can reduce the possibility of external attacks on the network.

This is a robust design with a firewall and router and provides enhanced protection. The router reduces the load on the firewall and provides in-depth defense.

Find out how Sectrio can help you with Micro Segmenting your network today: Request a demo

Before learning what penetration testing is, let us understand the impact of not performing it.

Since 2018, there have been 3.26 million complaints at the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, amounting to $27.6 billion in losses.

Yes, attacks are on the rise, and it is of utmost importance to perform penetration testing specific to ICS environments to keep them protected.

With the introduction of the Industrial Internet Of Things (IIoT), critical operations are connected in more ways than one, thus exposing them to threats. When there is lack of security, hackers can easily gain access to sensitive data and misuse them. Here comes the role of penetration testing.

It helps detect gaps in security, misconfigurations, unencrypted data, a weak patching program, etc. This testing helps isolate the ICS environment and protect it from potential threats.

Penetration testing is a cost-effective method as it identifies threats before they can impact the ICS networks. Pen tests are conducted in a way not to interfere with the ICS system so that there is no service disruption during the testing process.

Pen tests are a much deeper testing methodology than just vulnerability assessment, which is only a part of it. It helps keep organizations more informed so that effective remedial measures can be incorporated.

Penetration testing is conducted by experienced testers who take care not to disrupt the normal functioning of the ICS environment. Since the threat landscape is evolving, penetration testing has to be a continuous activity. This will help keep controls in place as this activity is considered proactive.

Organizations can improve on their security by following self-assessment of the ICS platform.

Here’s the checklist that can help:

ICS cybersecurity assessment is not a one-off activity. It should be an ongoing process to keep the control systems of industries secure and reliable.

Costa Rica declared a national emergency due to a series of ransomware attacks in 2022. A ransom of $10 million was the demand from the hackers to desist from publishing the stolen information.

Such is the impact of cyberattacks!! The necessity to be proactive and protect the industrial control systems has risen more than before. A potential mega impact can be avoided with proper security systems that are also reviewed periodically. Maintaining a checklist and adhering to the same can be more than effective. With this, we can safeguard the critical industries and ensure their uninterrupted operations.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Sectrio authored by Sectrio. Read the original post at: https://sectrio.com/ics-security-assessment-a-comlplete-guide/