Protecting sensitive data and implementing access controls is complex. In terms of compliance, OT sectors must meet stringent regulations (e.g., NERC CIP, HIPAA, IEC 62443) and undergo regular audits, requiring costly and time-consuming certification processes to align with standards. Here’s a detailed look at the challenges that must be considered:
Highlight
Deploying products and solutions in Operational Technology (OT) environments involves significant security and compliance challenges, which are major company concerns. In terms of security concerns, integrating IT and OT systems increases the attack surface, exposing them to advanced threats like APTs and ransomware.Â
Security Concerns
Increased Attack Surface- Interconnected Networks: Integrating IT and OT systems increases the attack surface, providing more entry points for cyber attackers.
- Sophisticated Threats: OT environments are targets for advanced persistent threats (APTs) and ransomware attacks, which can cause significant disruption and damage.
Data Security
- Sensitive Information: OT systems often handle critical and sensitive data. Ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of this data is challenging.
- Access Control: Implementing stringent access controls to prevent unauthorized access while allowing legitimate users to perform their tasks is complex.
Compliance Challenges
Regulatory Requirements
- Industry Regulations: OT environments, particularly in sectors like energy, healthcare, and manufacturing, are subject to stringent regulatory standards such as NERC CIP, HIPAA, and IEC 62443.
- Compliance Audits: Regular compliance audits require detailed documentation and evidence of adherence to security standards.
Certification and Standards
- Certification Processes: Deploying new solutions often necessitates rigorous testing and certification to meet industry-specific standards, which can be time-consuming and costly.
- Standards Alignment: Ensuring new technologies align with existing compliance standards without introducing vulnerabilities or gaps.
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Concerns About Deploying Third-Party Solutions
Common challenges for 3rd party access to OT environments
Cyberattack Vulnerabilities
Integration Challenges
Loss of Control
Data Privacy Risks
Operational Disruption
- Vendor Trust: Companies may be hesitant to trust third-party vendors with access to critical OT systems due to concerns about the vendor’s security practices and the potential for introducing vulnerabilities.
- Loss of Control: Integrating third-party solutions can lead to a perceived or actual loss of control over security and operational processes.
Integration Risks
- Compatibility Issues: Ensuring third-party solutions are compatible with existing OT infrastructure can be challenging, risking operational disruptions.
- Complex Integration: The integration process can introduce security risks if not managed carefully.
Data Privacy and Ownership
- Data Exposure: Deploying third-party solutions might require sharing sensitive operational data, raising concerns about data privacy and ownership.
- Data Breach Risks: There is a heightened risk of data breaches if the third-party solution is compromised.
Operational Disruption
- Downtime: The deployment and integration of third-party solutions can cause downtime, which is often unacceptable in critical OT environments.
- Performance Impact: Third-party solutions may affect the performance of existing systems, leading to operational inefficiencies.
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NetFoundry Zero Trust
Connect to Anything Managing and securing IoT devices is complex and often requires VPNs or bastions, which can be cumbersome and vulnerable to various cyber threats. NetFoundry simplifies this by offering a seamless, secure solution that eliminates these dependencies. With NetFoundry, you can:
- Eliminate the need for VPNs or bastions.
- Gain robust security against ransomware, data exfiltration, DDoS, and botnets.
- Available as both self-hosted and managed SaaS
Traditional IoT management often involves high latency and complex configurations. NetFoundry provides a straightforward, low-latency solution that supports various devices and setups, ensuring smooth operations.
- Local-Like Access: With native SSH and RDP support, you can experience low latency, smooth console sessions, and snappy database queries.
- Unified Solution: Ziti endpoints extend your overlay anywhere and become your single solution for IoT management and networking, including agentless setups, Nvidia Jetson, Raspberry Pi, OpenWRT, servers, and clouds.
- Enhanced Security: Close all inbound firewall ports, eliminating dependencies on static public IPs and port forwarding. All sessions are authenticated in the background via X.509 certificates, removing the need for VPNs and bastions.
Minimize Risk Using Advanced Authentication and Encryption Ensuring robust security in IoT environments can be challenging due to diverse threats. NetFoundry integrates advanced security measures to protect IoT networks comprehensively.
- X.509 Certificate Authentication: Built-in authentication to a private IoT network overlay with botnet and DDoS protection.
- Minimized Attack Surface: No open inbound firewall ports and microsegmentation to protect against data exfiltration.
- Advanced Security Protocols: Advanced Security Protocols include mutual TLS (mTLS), encryption, and least privileged access. Learn more about zero-trust networking here.
Minimize Latency and Improve Reliability
IoT deployments often suffer from high latency due to inefficient routing. NetFoundry optimizes connectivity by routing sessions directly, improving performance and reducing costs.
- Direct Routing: Route each session directly from the device to its destination, eliminating VPN backhaul and reducing cloud egress costs.
- Optimized Connectivity: Optimized Connectivity is a full mesh with multipoint networking that provides dynamic routing across multiple tier-one networks for the best connections.
- Network Flexibility: Use any network with the best latency, bandwidth, and throughput securely, even WiFi.
Leverage Software Defined Overlay Networks for Flexibility
Deploying and managing IoT solutions across varied environments requires flexibility. NetFoundry offers a software-only solution that can adapt to any network or device, ensuring seamless integration.
- Software-Only Solution: Cloud orchestrated with open source and SaaS options, including managed IoT network overlays.
- Versatile Endpoints: Zero trust endpoints for any app (SDK-embedded), device, edge, or cloud.
- Broad Network Compatibility: Use public cellular (eliminate private APN) and WiFi, enabling third parties to connect IoT devices to their networks securely.
Lower Your Connectivity and Security Costs
Implementing secure IoT solutions can be expensive and time-consuming. NetFoundry reduces costs and accelerates deployment with a streamlined, software-only approach.
- Cost-Effective: Software-only solution eliminates the need for extra security and networking hardware, VPNs, and bastions.
- Rapid Deployment: Deploy in minutes across any set of edges and clouds.
- Efficient Use of Public Networks: Use public cellular and WiFi to reduce costs and accelerate deployments, allowing customers and partners to securely enable IoT devices on their networks.
Conclusion
NetFoundry’s zero trust solutions for OT, IoT, and edge environments provide a robust, flexible, and cost-effective way to manage and secure your devices and networks. Embrace our platform to enhance security, simplify operations, and achieve rapid, low-cost deployments across diverse network environments.
