What is Operations Technology (OT) and why is it important to secure ICSs

There are starting to be more discussions about the need for integration between Information Technology (IT) and Operations Technology (OT) to secure ICSs. From my experience, I have found very few effective OT managers. I believe an effective OT manager must be very familiar with ICSs and their constraints and have the respect of ICS Operations. I have been fortunate to be working with an OT manager who has a good grasp of ICSs. This OT manager is from a small utility performing both an Aurora hardware mitigation project and acting as a utility test bed for securing ICSs. The projects are working because the OT Manager is able to provide the bridge between ICS Operations and IT.  Conversely, if the OT manager was essentially a “rebranded” IT manager with little respect from Operations, it wouldn’t work, or certainly not as effectively as it is in this case.

Joe Weiss