STEFAN SCHACHINGER , PRODUCT MANAGER , NETWORK SECURITY , BARRACUDA
Q & A
EDITOR ’ S
STEFAN SCHACHINGER , PRODUCT MANAGER , NETWORK SECURITY , BARRACUDA
The convergence of IT and OT offers immense opportunities for companies to design and implement efficient and cost-optimised processes . The crosscompany collaboration required to achieve this can help to address long standing disagreements between those responsible for each area , benefiting all parties involved .
A new and uncrowded market is opening for resellers and consultants who have the knowledge and expertise to help .
For example , IT teams with a more traditional approach will need to understand that operational technology often has different priorities and changes of any kind must be approached with great care . At the same time , OT teams have much to gain from IT ’ s experience , security skills , and modern tools .
For channel partners , the IT , OT convergence presents a significant opportunity to act as bridge builders and support customers with their knowledge and understanding of both IT and OT requirements and priorities . Put simply , the IT security expertise of channel partners will help businesses to implement adequate OT security .
Trends such as increased networking in industrial control systems , ICS and newly
established communication paths between machines and applications enlarge a business ’ attack surface and must be taken care of . Companies often lack the necessary resources to develop and implement comprehensive security strategies . It is crucial to identify and evaluate security gaps and then address them .
Internal network segmentation and securing remote maintenance access are proven security tactics . Internet-facing systems such as APIs , management interfaces and remote access channels must be checked . Modern security concepts should always be layered to contain compromises as much as possible and prevent total failures . A new and uncrowded market is opening for resellers and consultants who have the knowledge and expertise to help .
However , implementing effective security measures is not enough on its own . The ability to respond to and recover from security incidents while remaining operational is equally vital . Cyber-attacks usually happen at inconvenient times when the affected companies cannot easily respond .
For partners this presents an opportunity to offer managed security services , ideally with a 24x7 Security Operations Centre . OT environments need to be operational around the clock , and outages can cause severe disruption and damage . Security incidents demand a quick and precise investigation to locate and contain the problem . The time to detection and response is often crucial and access to a SOC can make all the difference . If you are a channel business and you have not considered IT , OT security before , now is the time to start . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 53