OT Attacks Get Scary With 'Living-off-the-Plant' Techniques

Operational technology (OT) cyberattacks in recent years have been relatively tame, thanks to attackers' ignorance of bespoke and legacy systems. But there are early indications that attackers are growing more interested in and accustomed to dealing with industrial machines, and that they might be on the precipice of causing much more serious damage to them.

A decade ago, it might have seemed like the world was entering a new, more dangerous era of cyberattacks. Russia hacked Ukraine's power grid. Israel and the United States sabotaged an Iranian nuclear facility. Attackers were targeting dams, and manufacturing plants. This was cyberactivity with real-world, sometimes life-threatening consequences.

In the end, it didn't develop into a trend. The reason for that, says Ric Derbyshire, principal security engineer at Orange Cyberdefense, is a lack of "process comprehension." If they ever do manage to reach critical OT ...