In this issue, we will explore the various types of Operational Technology (OT) and gain a deeper understanding of why the term encompasses more than just your typical household device. By the end of it, you will have a stronger comprehension of what OT truly is and its overall significance.
Awen invades BSides Cymru 2023
Last weekend (11th February), members of the Awen Collective team joined hundreds of other fantastic individuals at the first in person BSides Cymru cyber event since 2019. Hosted at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, industry specialists from all over the world gathered together to share their latest findings across a whole day of talks.
AICS 2022 - Bahrain
OT in Your Food and Drink? It's More Likely Than You Think
Annually the American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a sixth of Americans suffer from food borne illnesses, causing 3000 deaths a year. To reduce the number of incidents, the US established legislation to limit risk by setting standard methodology in production. The legislation requires the provision of well maintained records throughout the manufacturing process, allowing traceability of a product’s manufacture from farm to table, identifying areas of concern and informing decisions when mitigating problem areas. Similarly, the EU produced the General Food Law Regulation in 2002, requiring standards met with upkeeping records of food they supplied and received. Digitalisation aids these obligations by recording product data and increases productivity by automating processes of highly specialised manufacturing.
NIS2 - What it is and Why You Should Care
In May, the European Council and Parliament agreed upon a new Network & Information Systems (NIS) Directive establishing measures to create a high and unified level of cybersecurity across the EU. The initial proposal by the Commission came in December 2020 as a response to the growing rate of digitalisation and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. However, flaws began emerging with the original 2016 NIS Directive. Many newly digitised sectors are now susceptible to cyber attacks, so require coverage in the directive’s scope. Also, the quality in governance and incident responding vary across EU industries, with many standards not being met.
Tata Power Cyber Attack
Petya or NotPetya, That is the Question
On the 27th June 2017 a wide scale cyber attack Occurred. Encrypting devices throughout 80 companies to a point beyond repair, the White House estimated the attack resulted in $10 billion worth of damages worldwide. 80% of computers infected belonged to Ukrainian organisations, their partnering companies or organisations with offices networked there.The malware spread through M.E.Doc, accounting software used heavily across Ukraine. Cyber experts noted that although being more severe and widespread, the attacks shared code with previously identified piece of malware Petya, prompting them to name this new piece “NotPetya”
Wannacry - 5 Years Later
On the 12th of May 2017 a global malware attack was identified. Targeting Windows computers all over the world, it would encrypt a user’s data and demand a ransom payment in Bitcoin. Wannacry, as the malware became known, was one of the worst recorded cyber attacks on record. Within a day the ransomware was reported to have infected over 230 thousand computers in over 150 countries…