ChannelVision Magazine

Cyber Patrol and recovery from disruptions will reap the largest windfall in 2018.” The Connected Conundrum Another chal- lenge, or oppor- tunity, depending on your perspective, is a direct result of the technological processes that have come with the in- dustry 4.0 and IoT (Internet of things) trends we have seen during the past five or so years. More specifically, “the accidental system threats and undis- covered vulnerability resulting from the multiplying amount of connected corporate devices,” said Thomas Nuth, product marketing director for Nozomi Networks. Nuth points to modern in- dustrial control systems (ICS) and operational technologies (OT), such as those common in manufacturing, oil/ gas, chemical, government and utili- ties industries. These networks are now made up many devices, systems, networks and controls used to operate and/or automate processes. “The increased connectedness of non-consumer devices has filtered down to mission-critical networks and industri- al control systems such as DCS (distrib- uted control system), MES (manufactur- ing execution systems) and SCADA (su- pervisor control and data acquisition),” said Nuth. “As these industrial applica- tions grow more intelligent, so does their exposure to cyber-born threats; whether they are internal or external.” Budgets are starting to be al- located to ICS/ OT cybersecu- rity projects on a larger scale than in years past, continued Nuth, as companies and organiza- tions realize that their critical infrastructure is too ex- posed not to invest in improved oper- ational visibility and ICS cybersecurity technologies. “To achieve an improved cyberse- curity posture, companies are looking for ways to extend the utility of their existing IT/OT infrastructure, such as firewalls and SIEMs, and they’re looking for technological expertise and guidance from channel partners to support them,” said Nuth. “The op- portunity to guide companies and or- ganizations in their ICS cybersecurity selection journey is tremendous for channel partners on both sides of the IT or OT fence.” Along with all those connected machines are the growing numbers of connected work- ers. In turn, cy- bercriminals are shifting some of their attention from attacking systems and infrastructure to finding breaches through those indi- viduals. “Cybersecurity is quickly becoming part of our daily lives and can no longer be separated between personal and professional,” said Carson. “In the past, cyber-attacks were usually only a con- cern for the workplace. However, today that is no longer the case.” “Today’s security incidents often in- volve attackers pursuing employee privi- leges or crafting malware that evades detection by existing security tools,” said Lenny Zeltser, vice president of products at Minerva Labs, which offers endpoint security solutions. Email phishing campaigns also con- tinue to be highly effective, said Zeltser, since they often succeed in tricking re- cipients into revealing login credentials to business applications. “Attackers are also finding ways to sneak malicious code past defenses by embedding mal- ware in document files or by concealing it inside the memory space of benign applications,” he said. “Attackers also exploit security bugs in web browsers or steal computing resources to mine cryptocurrencies.” Thomas Nuth; Nozomi Ken Ammon; OPAQ Rick Moy; Acalvio July - August, 2018 | Channel Vision 19