Gartner® Report: 3 Initial Steps to Address Unsecure Cyber-Physical Systems

According to Gartner “Cyber-Physical Systems security represents an opportunity to tackle security and safety across IT, OT, and IoT Initiatives”

Cyberattacks have recently halted or impacted business critical operations in many different industries including critical infrastructure sectors such as energy, manufacturing, defense, utilities, and logistics. These attacks have increasingly targeted cyber-physical systems (CPS), and Gartner provides recommendations for initial steps to secure these systems.

Gartner states that, “Business-led Internet of Things or converged OT-IT projects have largely underestimated or ignored security and safety risks. Security and risk management leaders must go beyond data security by embracing cyber-physical system security efforts, or they will soon be overwhelmed by new threats.”

Gartner recommends, “CPS security needs to focus on safety, reliability, resilience, adaptability and privacy (and in some sectors, such as defense, survivability)” and some of the areas security and risk management leaders should focus on includes:

  • Security of controls, actuators or sensors.
  • Network segmentation, isolation or masking complexity.
  • Identity management and authentication in resource-constrained devices.

This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Xage Security. Gartner, 3 Initial Steps to Address Unsecure Cyber-Physical Systems, Katell Thielemann, 4 November 2021. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

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