Tony Rowan, Cyberbit Cybersecurity Architect, provided a deep-dive into the Grizzly Steppe campaign which targeted critical infrastructure networks in North America. Rowan introduced the discussion with an overview of Cyberbit, before he launched into some examples of several attacks on OT (Operational Technology) networks over the last few years.

Rowan provided a kill chain analysis of the attack, saying: “It is pretty much to be expected now to be an arm of any future warfare to include attacks on infrastructure through cyber techniques.”

Why are OT networks at risk? Rowan walked through several potential reasons. One of the main ones being the convergence of IT and OT networks which increases connectivity to the outside world. Other factors increasing OT risk are lack of OT monitoring and inherent design flaws.

Rowan offered steps to prevent similar attacks, focusing on segmented network architecture, obtaining more visibility into assets and network communications, creating a robust OT security policy, and establishing a means to detect both known and unknown threats.