The USAID Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine Activity created five repositories with materials developed for CTO mentorship program in 2021.
The fifth module of this program contains materials on fundamentals of IT OT convergence in integrated cybersecurity.
IT and OT are increasingly becoming one and the same entity, and are approaching a common set of business goals and objectives for the future of many industries. Driven by the increase of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industry 4.0 and new business opportunities presented by digital transformation, many organisations are already entering the IT/OT integration journey and embracing the benefits as well as risks associated with such business models.
The benefits of economies of scale are shifting from owners and operators to manufacturers, and a number of research findings show that companies are more likely to integrate OT systems into their business models than in the past. One of the key benefits of managing IT OT convergence includes improved information for better decision making. This allows manufacturers to start transforming the data generated by machines and processes into valuable insights, such as predictive maintenance.
The convergence of IT and OT should be encouraged and promoted at technology, security and process levels (security as business enabler). While convergence and integration of OT brings improvements, current technology developments require managers responsible for the OT domain to start new discussions about how to keep critical infrastructures safe, resilient and up-to-date. However, for this to happen organisations need to consider both IT and OT environments and their readiness to converge, which is often not the case, as today many facilities lack the necessary infrastructure are certainly not future-proof.
All training materials are prepared in English and Ukrainian languages accompanied with the whitepapers from the international experts in English.
These materials were prepared by Catalisto, LLC for the USAID Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine Activity.