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TechKnowSurge Catalog Interactives Which OT Weakness Does It Fix?
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Which OT Weakness Does It Fix?

A firewall, a new login, an encrypted tunnel: which OT weakness does each change reduce?

⚑ Complete this interactive to capture a CTF flag worth 5 points.

About this interactive

Operational technology (OT) is the technology used to create and deliver a company's products and services, usually the systems that run industrial operations: PLCs, SCADA, DCS, RTUs, CNC machines, building management and lighting controls. It is expensive to roll out, so it often stays in place for decades. The lesson lists its common weaknesses; four of them are here. Legacy, unpatched systems: equipment too costly to replace runs long past the end of its patches. Lack of segmentation: many OT networks were built before segmentation was common, so a compromise in IT can reach OT, and the other way round. Weak authentication and access control: devices left open, with shared or default logins. Insecure communication protocols: older protocols that send commands and data unencrypted and unauthenticated. To sort a card, ask what was wrong before the change was made.

What you'll learn

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+
3.1 Compare and contrast security implications of different architecture models.
2.3 Explain various types of vulnerabilities.
2.5 Explain the purpose of mitigation techniques used to secure the enterprise.
4.1 Given a scenario, apply common security techniques to computing resources.

Key terms

Operational Technology
OT
The hardware and software that monitor and control physical equipment, processes and infrastructure, such as plant machinery, pipelines and the power grid, and that need security approaches different from those used for office IT.
Legacy System
An outdated computing system, hardware, or software that remains in use despite lacking current vendor support or security patches, often introducing security vulnerabilities.
Network Segmentation
The practice of dividing a network into smaller segments to improve performance and limit the spread of security threats.
Industrial Control System
ICS
A broad category of the computers, networks and field devices that run production lines and critical infrastructure, SCADA and PLCs among them; securing them means protecting physical processes that can tolerate very little downtime.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
SCADA
An architecture in which a central server and its software gather readings from sensors and field units across a plant, pipeline or region and send commands back to them, used in critical infrastructure, where a security failure can damage physical equipment.

Topics

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