A lack of skills is considered to be one of the biggest challenges facing organisations managing Operational Technology (OT) risks, according to an online poll by NTT Security, the cyber security company, part of NTT Group. The Twitter poll suggests that when it comes to who is responsible within the business for securing OT, most people feel it falls to the engineering function rather than the security or IT department.
Asked what the biggest challenge is for companies managing OT risk, just under half (46 per cent) of respondents point to the lack of skills, while 29 per cent say it is a lack of visibility into OT networks to facilitate risk assessment. A quarter of respondents believe that a disconnect between OT and IT teams could be cause for concern. On the subject of responsibility, 42 per cent of respondents believe OT security falls to the Engineering Director, while more than a third (38 per cent) point to the CTO. Just one in five say it is the job of the CISO.
When it comes to responding to a cyber attack on OT systems, only one in four (26 per cent) respondents believe that the majority of incident response plans cover both OT and IT, while a third say that none do.
Tim Ennis, Senior Operational Technology Consultant, Cyber Security Consulting at NTT Security said: “It’s clear that arrangements for securing OT are a huge challenge for organisations, especially when it comes to identifying exactly what those risks are and the potential impact they may have on the business. With greater connectivity and convergence with IT comes greater risks and these have to be managed accordingly.
“Having the rights skills in place is fundamental, as are clear lines of responsibility within the business. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for OT security. It might be right that the CISO has responsibility, but equally it could be that the engineering director is best placed to do this. What is important is getting the right organisational structure in place that can empower and support the OT team to improve security, and to enable the business to achieve its objectives.”
While we are yet to see any major cyber attacks on telecommunications networks, over half of respondents (53 per cent) believe that the telecoms sector is most vulnerable to attack and a third believe it is utilities.
A poll was conducted over Twitter in May 2019 and generated more than 7,500 responses. To download the NTT Security 2019 GTIR (Global Threat Intelligence Report): https://www.nttsecurity.com/2019GTIR.
