Cybersafety must along with digital transformation: Report

Hyderabad: While digital transformation has started making its way well into the industrial sectors, there are cyber threats too. Cybercriminals, threat actors, and state-sponsored hacktivists are targeting these sectors and the whole gamut of critical infrastructure, says Deloitte India's Report – Reimagining OT cybersecurity strategy.

According to the report, Operational Technologies (OT) have become a lucrative target for state and non-state actors, as attacking them can disrupt operations, damage equipment, affect lives, and stall economies. Hence, protecting these technologies and improving resilience have become a matter of national security and safety.

"For the industrial and energy sectors, both the internal and external environments are changing rapidly. Driven by the imperative to transform their businesses, run efficiently, and support decarbonisation, digital transformation is expected to become mainstream," said Santosh Jinugu, Executive Director, Deloitte India.

He adds, "At the same time, the geo-political environment is getting complex, which also brings critical OT systems in the radar of bad threat actors. OT systems are complex, and so are the repercussions of a cyber-attack. It is important to have a robust strategy in place to secure these OT systems, and not let cyber risks become an impediment in the adoption of Industry 4.0 and the next-gen technologies."

Use of legacy systems, lack of proper network segmentation, absence of robust governance, security policies, and monitoring, and unsecure remote access are leading to increased cyber vulnerabilities of OT systems. As the life span of OT assets is high and some vulnerabilities continue due to legacy issues, a different strategy is required to secure and monitor these OT systems.