Renewables | 15 December 2022
Protecting OT networks in the renewable energy industry
Published by Stephanie Calder
The Renewable Energy Sector has grown 29% in the past year and with this expansion comes an increase in the use of automation and digitalisation of assets and operations.
This increased convergence between IT and OT creates a substantial operational and financial gain for renewable operators and increases the vulnerability of cyber-attacks.
The growing reliance on Renewable Energy across the globe now means that these assets are considered critical infrastructure and therefore need to comply with new cyber security regulations, such as NIS Directive and IEC 62443.
Protecting OT Networks in the Renewable Energy Industry
Cyber-attacks can lead to the following consequences in this sector
- Loss of production & Revenue
- Damage to assets and infrastructure
- Leakage of sensitive commercial information and repetitional damage
- Regulatory non-compliance and fines
- HSE risk
The typical technical gaps that Renewable Asset Owners are currently experiencing are a lack of visibility, prioritisation of risks, vulnerability mapping, clearly defined responsibilities, robust disaster recovery, and business continuity planning.
Taking the first steps to alleviate these risks and build greater cyber resilience can be a daunting task, therefore we have simplified the steps you need to take to manage and mitigate the risk of Cyber Attacks on your assets.
Asset Guardians 5 Steps to Success
Using Asset Guardian to Protect OT Networks in the Renewable Energy Sector
In implementing the above you can not only meet the objectives of the NIS Directive, but your company has a comprehensive Cyber Inventory that can be used to assess and prioritise risk continually against known vulnerabilities.
This allows your company to minimise the risk of a cyber-attack and therefore loss of production due to downtime or damage to assets but also allows you to get back up and running quickly should the worst happen.
How Asset Guardian Protected Against SolarWinds Cyber-Attack
In the recent SolarWinds cyber-attack, which many of our clients use on their OT networks, malicious code was inserted into their software. This meant hackers could potentially access the networks of anybody using that software. The Asset Guardian Cyber module was used to search their cyber inventory and find out instantly their exposure to this hack.
The action was taken quickly to patch relevant systems and protect themselves as soon as the hack was reported. Without the Asset Guardian Cyber inventory, it could have taken them weeks or months to identify all potential vulnerabilities that were exposed to the threat, leaving them highly susceptible to a cyber attack.
This is just one example of the 20 years of experience that Asset Guardian has acquired working alongside companies in the Energy Sector.
We have a proven solution alongside an experienced team who continue to assist our clients around the globe in the ongoing mitigation of risks to their operations in the following areas, configuration change management, cyber security, and obsolescence.
Want to achieve the above with a proven solution? Please get in touch today.