Operational technology (OT) environments are vital systems that keep industries like manufacturing, energy, and transportation running. These systems are facing more cyber attacks and a more complex threat landscape. Many organizations use cyber threat intelligence that only looks at risks to IT assets. This approach often misses important context needed to keep OT environments secure.  

Why does that matter? The main reason is that OT environments are very different from IT systems. The IT threat intelligence that many organizations use does not focus on protecting OT systems.   

We have worked with top industrial and critical infrastructure organizations. We found three common challenges in OT cyber threat intelligence (CTI). Most organizations face these challenges, which can make them vulnerable to attacks on their industrial control systems (ICS).   

Following are the three critical OT CTI challenges – and how to address them.  

Challenge 1: The IT-OT Threat Intelligence Divide  

Many organizations rely on IT-centric cyber threat intelligence solutions to protect their OT environments. However, IT and OT environments have different threats and different risk frameworks. OT networks operate under unique protocols, have longer device lifecycles, and must prioritize uptime and safety over traditional IT concerns like data theft or privacy breaches. IT threat intelligence providers are simply not equipped to address these nuances.  

To close the IT-OT threat intelligence gap, you need to align security measures with the real risks to your operations. You can achieve this by using intelligence that is specific to your OT systems.   

Your organization needs cyber threat intelligence designed for OT environments to bridge the gap between IT and OT. Dragos WorldView OT Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) offers more than just standard threat feeds. It provides assessments on adversaries, vulnerabilities, OT-focused malware, and attack methods that affect OT systems.  

• Know the adversaries targeting your systems and why. Dragos currently tracks 21 Threat Groups targeting industrial and critical infrastructure organizations. In 2023, there were 905 ransomware attacks involving industrial organizations. Recently, hacktivists involved in geopolitical conflicts have tried to disrupt operational technology. In some cases, they have succeeded in causing significant damage.  
• Prioritize and mitigate vulnerabilities in the context of OT. Public CVE information is often inaccurate; CVSS scores simply don’t consider the nuances of OT environments. Focus on vulnerabilities most likely to disrupt your operations. In 2023, Dragos analyzed 2010 vulnerabilities. Only 3 percent needed to be addressed immediately, and 97 percent could be addressed without a patch.  
• Understand the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and capabilities particular to ICS devices and OT environments. For example, sophisticated adversaries targeting OT might exploit obscure or unpatched vulnerabilities in industrial control systems, often using custom malware designed to control or disrupt physical processes. The are nine (9) known ICS malware toolsets: STUXNET, HAVEX, BLACKENERGY, CRASHOVERRIDE, TRISIS, PIPEDREAM, INDUSTROYER2, FUXNET, and FrostyGoop.  

Dragos’s OT CTI focus on industrial control systems ensures you’re prepared for threats that could affect your critical infrastructure. You can trust that your intelligence aligns with the realities of your OT environment.  

Challenge 2: The Need for Custom Threat Intelligence  

Even with the right threat intelligence, organizations often need more specific answers to address security challenges. What if you face a unique, immediate threat in your OT environment? Or, what if you need continuous, expert-level support to help guide your long-term security strategies?  

Threats evolve rapidly, especially in OT environments with increasingly opportunistic and sophisticated adversaries. Most companies find it challenging to maintain an in-house team of OT cybersecurity experts who can continuously monitor external environments for new threats, provide long-term strategic guidance, and help prioritize actions. Even with the right information, many teams find it hard to understand what it means for their situation. They also struggle to keep up with the changing threats that could affect their organization.  

Custom and on-demand OT cyber threat intelligence is increasingly critical as threats become more targeted.  

• Sometimes, you need custom threat intelligence to address an immediate issue – like discovering suspicious activity in your OT systems and needing to determine if the threat is real or benign quickly.  
• Other times, you need ongoing, personalized support that doesn’t just react to threats but proactively guides you to secure your OT environment against evolving risks.  

Dragos WorldView Request for Intelligence (RFI) and Concierge services provide the custom threat intelligence that general IT-focused threat intelligence can’t deliver.    

• If you need custom threat intelligence on-demand, our WorldView RFI service allows you to submit specific requests for intelligence whenever a unique challenge arises. Whether you’re investigating a suspicious event, trying to understand a new vulnerability, or addressing adversary activity, our OT experts will provide a customized threat intelligence report that addresses your needs.  
• For organizations that need ongoing, personalized intelligence, our Concierge service offers a dedicated OT intelligence analyst who works with you year-round. The analysts provide custom threat intelligence, but they do more than that. They help you prioritize vulnerabilities. They also recommend long-term defense strategies that fit your OT environment.  

Dragos WorldView RFI and Concierge services ensure that your OT environment is always protected by expert-level intelligence and strategic insights, giving you confidence that your critical systems are secure.  

Challenge 3: Operationalizing CTI for OT Environments  

Once you have the right intelligence, the next challenge is operationalizing it—using that intelligence in your day-to-day security operations and incorporating it into your threat detection workflows.  

Operationalizing cyber threat intelligence (CTI) in OT environments requires specific knowledge of how adversaries move through IT and OT systems and the ability to detect and stop those movements before they cause disruption. However, it’s challenging to translate intelligence reports into detection rules, indicators of compromise (IOCs), or actionable steps for your OT monitoring systems.  

Overcoming this challenge involves ensuring the intelligence you receive actively feeds into your OT security processes.  

• Mapping intelligence to TTPs : Ensuring that you know the specific adversary behaviors targeting OT environments and that these behaviors are being actively monitored within your threat detection platform.  
• Incorporating IOCs into detection rules: Using the indicators of compromise (IOCs) provided by your intelligence reports to update your detection and monitoring tools, ensuring that any signs of malicious activity are flagged immediately.  
• Managing new vulnerabilities: Identifying vulnerabilities that contribute to increased risk in your OT environment allows you to patch or mitigate them before they’re exploited.  
• Collaborating with your SOC team: OT teams need to collaborate with their SOC (Security Operations Center) to ensure that intelligence is understood and applied correctly. This ensures that OT-specific threats are detected and acted upon in real-time across IT and OT networks. Alerts signaling adversary behaviors and IOCs need to be accompanied by enough context to correlate with risks to OT.  

The Dragos Platform is designed to help you operationalize OT CTI efficiently and effectively by providing regularly updated Knowledge Packs that deliver the latest intelligence insights. They include the latest TTPs, updated IOCs, assessments on new vulnerabilities relevant to your OT environment, and robust threat analytics that provide profound, high-fidelity alerts on attacks that can impact your specific systems and environments. This ensures your detection capabilities are always aligned with the latest OT threats.  

Your Industrial Security Requires OT CTI Expertise  

Securing OT environments isn’t just about installing monitoring tools or receiving threat intelligence. It’s about ensuring that the intelligence you receive is specific to OT, can be tailored to your needs when required, and is operationalized to protect your systems in real-time.  

1. Get the correct intel and know your OT threats. Overcome the IT/OT threat intelligence divide through Dragos WorldView OT Cyber Threat Intelligence.  
2. Assess the real risks to your business operations. Fill the need for tailored intelligence through Dragos WorldView RFI and Concierge services.  
3. Secure your OT against cyber attacks. Benefit from the operationalization of intelligence through the Dragos Platform and its regularly updated Knowledge Packs.

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