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Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

Industrial control systems (ICS) are the hardware, software, and networking components used to monitor, automate, and manage industrial processes such as HVAC, access control, and factory operations. They share many of the same vulnerabilities as broader operational technology environments.

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About this video

Industrial control systems (ICS) are the hardware, software, and networking components used to monitor, automate, and control industrial processes. Common examples include systems that regulate HVAC environments, manage building access, or govern manufacturing and factory operations. Each of these systems operates with a defined scope, meaning a single facility may rely on several distinct ICS deployments running in parallel, each responsible for a different aspect of operations. ICS sits within the larger category of operational technology (OT), which broadly refers to all technology used to support and sustain physical operations. While OT is the overarching framework, ICS represents the individual systems that carry out specific control functions within it. Understanding this relationship is important because vulnerabilities that affect OT environments generally extend to the ICS components operating within them. SCADA systems are among the most recognized types of industrial control systems, but they are not the only variety. Distributed control systems (DCS) represent another significant category, with their own architecture and operational characteristics. Security professionals working in OT and ICS environments need to account for the full range of system types, as each can present unique attack surfaces while sharing many of the same underlying vulnerabilities.

What you'll learn

Distinguish between operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS), including common ICS use cases such as HVAC, access control, and factory automation

What's covered

Industrial Control Systems

ICS Definition
- Hardware & Software
- Networking Systems
- Monitor & Automate Processes
ICS Examples
- HVAC Systems
- Access Control
- Factory Line Control
OT vs ICS Relationship
- OT Supports Operations
- OT Contains Many ICS
- Physical Equipment Runs ICS
Types of ICS
- SCADA Systems
- Distributed Control Systems

Key terms

Operational Technology: Operational Technology refers to hardware and software systems that monitor and control physical devices, processes, and infrastructure in industrial and critical environments, requiring specialized security approaches distinct from traditional IT.
Industrial Control System: Industrial Control System is a broad category of control systems used in industrial production and critical infrastructure, including SCADA systems and PLCs; ICS security focuses on protecting physical processes from cyber threats with minimal downtime tolerance.
Access Control: A security mechanism that restricts access to resources based on policies, roles, or identity.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition is a system architecture used in critical infrastructure to collect sensor data and issue real-time control commands; SCADA security failures can result in physical damage to industrial equipment and facilities.
Distributed Control System: Distributed Control System is an industrial process control architecture used in manufacturing and utilities; securing DCS is critical to operational technology safety and physical process integrity.

Topics

Industrial Control Systems Operational Technology Hvac Factory Automation Ics Security Access Control

Transcript

Industrial control systems

Our operational technologies consist of different industrial control systems — industrial control systems that are susceptible to the same vulnerabilities that we mention in operational technology.

Industrial control systems are the hardware, software and networking system used to control, monitor and automate industrial processes. Essentially, our industrial control systems are any systems that control, for instance, HVAC systems, or any aspects of our building, or maybe our access control, maybe it's our equipment. These are different systems that we have that we set up to control our industrial equipment and our industrial processing.

I look at it this way: our operational technologies are any of the technologies that we use to really support operations, so that's really encompassing of a lot of different systems. Our industrial control systems are different systems within that. We may have many different systems that are controlling different aspects of this, so we might have an industrial control system that controls our HVAC system, one that controls our factory line, and another one that controls another aspect of our operations.

So operational technology consists of many different industrial control systems, and these industrial control systems are run by our different operational technologies, actual physical equipment to help support that system.

I didn't specifically mention SCADA, and we'll talk more about SCADA, but that's not the only one that's out there. There's also distributed control systems, which is slightly different.

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