Ensure Availability &
Stop the ICS Cyber Kill Chain

Critical infrastructure that provides the foundation of our public utilities, communications, transportation, and manufacturing systems enables modern society. These systems play a vital role in ensuring a nation’s well-being, security, and economic prosperity. However, critical infrastructure is under constant threat from sophisticated cyberattacks. Hackers notoriously use what is known as the Cyber Kill Chain. This is a series of steps that the bad actors follow to compromise critical infrastructure. The industrial control systems are especially hit hard, posing a significant challenge to the security and resilience of these vital systems. 4INTRODUCTION By adopting advanced, non-disruptive security measures that are easy to manage and implement, organizations can strengthen their defenses against a range of cyber threats and ensure the continued operation of their critical infrastructure. This white paper aims to educate industrial security leaders on the need to enhance critical infrastructure resilience by breaking the kill chain of cyberattacks using a modern approach to industrial security. This paper proposes a comprehensive, simple solution ensuring security, safety, and efficiency.

Ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure is of utmost importance to both commercial enterprises and consumers alike, as it guarantees the continuous and reliable operation of vital systems and services that underpin modern society’s daily functioning. The resilience of these systems is intrinsically linked to their security, as disruptions caused by security incidents can have far-reaching consequences, ranging from financial losses and reputational damage to potential threats to public safety.

Recognizing this interconnectedness, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has established guidelines emphasizing cyber resiliency engineering. Cyber resiliency engineering integrates systems security engineering and resilience engineering to develop reliable, secure systems capable of anticipating, withstanding, recovering from, and adapting to adverse cyber events.¹

Security Is Key To Resilience

A key aspect of achieving resilience is implementing robust security measures that protect the infrastructure from threats and minimize the impact of incidents when they occur.

The ramifications of poor security in critical infrastructure can be severe, endangering public safety, as evidenced by disruptions to energy distribution, water treatment, or transportation systems.² Given the high stakes involved, it is essential to prioritize security as a means of bolstering resilience.

"Kill chain" is a military term that refers to a series of steps an attacker must complete to carry out an operation successfully.³

In the context of cybersecurity, the cyber kill chain framework is used to describe the various stages an attacker goes through to successfully compromise a target's critical infrastructure (see Figure 1).⁴

Based on Lockheed Martin’s Cyber Kill Chain® framework

Examples of kill chain incidents in critical infrastructure include the Stuxnet attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Ukrainian power grid cyberattack, and the Triton attack on a petrochemical plant that affected numerous organizations worldwide (see Figure 2). These incidents demonstrate the severe consequences of a successful kill chain, ranging from operational disruptions and financial losses to threats to public safety and national security.^5,6,7

Source: Britannica, Atlantic Council, MIT Technology Review

The modern era presents numerous challenges for securing critical infrastructure, which arise from the evolving nature of technology, the expanding attack surface, and the growing sophistication of cyber threats.

Some of the most significant challenges faced by organizations responsible for critical infrastructure include:

Increasing surface of attack

The merging of IT and OT systems, the widespread use of IoT devices, and hybrid work environments create more chances for attackers to exploit weaknesses.

Human error

Employees can unintentionally expose systems to threats by clicking on phishing links, using weak passwords, or not updating security, while attackers may target them for system and data access through manipulation tactics.

Outdated, unfixable systems

Critical infrastructure organizations often depend on old, unsupported systems that can't be updated to address current security risks, making them easy targets for attackers.

Inadequacies of traditional security

Conventional security measures like industrial firewalls, intrusion detection, and antivirus software struggle to keep pace with evolving threats, are challenging to manage, and may not protect against advanced attacks.

Expertise shortage

The cybersecurity field faces a significant skills gap, making it hard for organizations to maintain the required in-house knowledge to tackle emerging threats and vulnerabilities.

Given these challenges, organizations require a new approach to industrial security that simplifies the processes, addresses the unique requirements of critical infrastructures, and offers effective protection against the evolving threat landscape.

Moreover, BlastShield is designed for easy installation on Windows; Debian, ARM, and RPM based Linux distributions; and macOS, ensuring compatibility with various systems and devices used in critical infrastructure environments.