The SANS 2016 State of ICS Security Survey Report indicates that many of the ICS professionals who responded to the survey have new job titles such as ICS cyber security program manager, ICS security project manager, IT/OT architect and director of cyber security for building and facilities systems.

It’s not a surprise that ensuring the reliability and availability of control systems is the number one business driver for securing industrial automation systems. It was confirmed in the SANS 2016 State of ICS Security Survey. Other top reasons for wanting to improve security include lowering risk, ensuring employee safety, meeting regulatory compliance and preventing damage to systems.

Recently we looked at the state of ICS security according to the 2016 SANS survey and commented on how a broader set of tools is becoming available to secure industrial automation systems. Many industrial engineers will likely not be familiar with these new-to-ICS technologies, which include things like configuration compliance monitoring and threat intelligence engines.

Do you believe that your control system is in more danger from cyberattacks now than it was a year ago? How does this compare with what other organizations are experiencing? How does your company compare to others in terms of doing security assessments? What security initiatives are others prioritizing?

A common best practice in any field is to benchmark performance or results against industry norms. In the case of industrial control systems (ICS), security breach benchmarking is a challenge.