Dopamine and Defense: The Rewards of Zero Trust Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure

Protect Your Network, Conquer Your Goals

Last week I talked about Desired Outcomes in OT Cybersecurity, and this week I would like to focus on something near and dear to my heart - managing risk. Last week I ended the blog by stating “The desired outcome of any OT cybersecurity deployment should be to block all of the tactics that you can and monitor the rest. The more you can block, the less risk you are taking by operating your network.”

The Consequences of Not Protecting Your Network

Let’s talk about what the cost is if you DON’T protect your network.

Network administrators must balance the mission with risk management, which comes with a cost. That cost is either in today’s environment: I spend to protect my network or recover from a hack. The cost of dealing with an attack comes at companies from multiple angles, and the cost of security breaches and hacks is higher than ever before. 

Let’s start with the most obvious cost: downtime. One easy return on investment calculation for OT cybersecurity is that if it can prevent even a single hour of downtime, the network deployment is likely to pay for itself. The cost of downtime varies by industry, but here are a few statistics from Pingdom:

But downtime is only one aspect of the cost of a cyberattack. Some of the other costs that result from a hack, ransomware, or data breach are:

Direct Costs: These include things like ransom payments, data recovery costs, system restoration and business disruption, legal and forensic fees, and customer notification costs. A cost that is 

Indirect Costs: Because of a hack, you may lose revenue, suffer reputational damage, face increased insurance premiums, and have to pay regulatory fines. A ransomware attack can damage public trust in organizations responsible for critical infrastructure. 

Long-Term Costs: As a response to the hack, you will likely increase your investment in cybersecurity solutions and personnel to prevent another hack, and you will conduct extensive new business continuity planning to show customers that your business will not be affected if another hack occurs.

Human Cost: In the Critical Infrastructure space, there can be immeasurable human costs associated with hacks. A hack to a system can cause physical injury or death. Ransomware attacks can disrupt supply chains, leading health and safety risks due to lack of services. Employees may lose their jobs resulting in a long-term community impact. Disruptions in oil and gas, chemical, or power generation industries can lead to ecological accidents or pollution. 

The human cost is by far the most horrific cost. With nation-states increasingly targeting critical infrastructure, the probability of an attack is high, and the cost of allowing hacks to succeed is even higher.

Conclusion: Managing Risk with Zero Trust Protection

The good news is that you can manage your risk and achieve your desired outcome of protecting your critical infrastructure and OT network with a solution that minimizes your network risk. Sign up (link) to receive our whitepaper on Zero Trust Protection for OT when it is released in two weeks