NSA, CISA Explain How Threat Actors Plan and Execute Attacks on ICS/OT
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NSA, CISA Clarify How Menace Actors Plan and Execute Assaults on ICS/OT
By Eduard Kovacs on September 23, 2022
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US authorities companies have shared a brand new cybersecurity useful resource that may assist organizations defend essential management methods in opposition to menace actors.
Industrial management methods (ICS) and different operational expertise (OT) methods is usually a tempting goal for state-sponsored menace actors, profit-driven cybercriminals and hacktivists. These units are sometimes left unprotected and hacking them might have critical penalties, together with bodily injury and lack of life.
The NSA and the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) have been publishing assets to assist probably focused organizations deal with the vulnerabilities that expose them to such assaults, and the 2 companies have now launched one other advisory, one specializing in how menace actors plan and execute their assaults in opposition to essential infrastructure management methods.
The joint advisory describes the 5 typical steps concerned in planning and executing such an assault. The companies imagine that understanding menace actors’ techniques, strategies, and procedures (TTPs) might be helpful for implementing protections and countering adversaries.
Within the first part, menace actors set up the supposed impact and choose a goal. As an illustration, cybercriminals can goal ICS/OT for monetary achieve, whereas state-sponsored actors do it for political and/or navy targets. The objectives can embody inflicting injury or destruction.
“For instance, disabling energy grids in strategic places might destabilize financial landscapes or help broader navy campaigns. Disrupting water therapy amenities or threatening to destroy a dam might have psychological or social impacts on a inhabitants,” the companies warned.
Within the second part, the attackers acquire intelligence on the focused methods. This may be completed by way of open supply analysis, insider threats, or after compromising IT networks and utilizing that entry to acquire ICS-related data.
The attackers then use the collected data to develop strategies and instruments that can assist them obtain their objectives.
Within the final two phases, the attackers achieve preliminary entry to the focused system and use the aforementioned instruments and strategies to realize the supposed impact.
“They might open or shut breakers, throttle valves, overfill tanks, set generators to over-speed, or place crops in unsafe working situations. Moreover, cyber actors might manipulate the management setting, obscuring operator consciousness and obstructing restoration, by locking interfaces and setting displays to indicate regular situations. Actors may even droop alarm performance, permitting the system to function beneath unsafe situations with out alerting the operator. Even when bodily security methods ought to stop catastrophic bodily penalties, extra restricted results are doable and might be enough to satisfy the actor’s intent. In some eventualities although, if an actor concurrently manipulates a number of elements of the system, the bodily security methods might not be sufficient. Impacts to the system might be short-term or everlasting, probably even together with bodily destruction of kit.”
The advisory additionally consists of some suggestions, together with limiting publicity of data that may be helpful to an attacker, figuring out and securing distant entry factors, limiting entry to community and management system instruments and scripts, conducting common safety audits, and implementing a dynamic community setting.
The advisory, titled Management System Protection: Know the Opponent, is obtainable on CISA’s web site and as a PDF.
Associated: CISA Creates Listing of Free Cybersecurity Instruments and Companies for Defenders
Associated: CISA Warns of Menace Posed by Ransomware to Industrial Techniques
Associated: NSA and CISA Alert Highlights Urgency for OT Safety
Associated: New Particular Curiosity Group Goals to Improve ICS/OT Cyber Defenses
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