Addressing Increasing Threats to Operational Technology
Industrial Control Systems face dramatically increasing threats, while new federal mandates require strict reporting of cybersecurity incidents. The district needed a structured strategy to shift from simple protection to a resilient recovery model, ensuring business continuity during potential cyber-attacks or outages.
Developing a NIST-Based Cyber Response Playbook
Our team facilitated a multi-stage process to evaluate operational technology systems based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. This solution bridges the gap between raw threat data and actionable defense by establishing a "defense-in-depth" strategy for data protection. The resulting playbook identifies specific roles for the incident response team, streamlines breach forensics, and outlines staff responsibilities during a crisis. To ensure these plans translate to field readiness, the team developed tabletop exercises to simulate data breaches in a safe environment. This allows the district to test policies and improve communication between team members without risking live systems. The solution also includes a disaster recovery plan to restore staff, data, and infrastructure, ensuring that critical functions remain protected through repeatable and executable documented processes.
Optimized Recovery and Reduced Financial Risk
The district now possesses a defensible incident response framework that can be scaled across its treatment and distribution systems. This proactive planning reduces recovery time, preserves customer confidence, and potentially results in lower cybersecurity insurance premiums through demonstrated program effectiveness.
