2021 will be remembered as the year that ransomware gangs turned their attention to critical infrastructure, targeting companies built around manufacturing, energy distribution, and food production.
The Colonial Pipeline ransomware alone resulted in the shutdown of 5,500 miles of pipeline over fears that the ransomware attack on its IT network would spread to the operational network that controls the pipeline for distributing fuel.
Operational technology (OT) networks control the devices critical to the continued operations of production lines, power plants, and energy supplies, and as such are typically segmented from a company’s internet-facing IT networks to better isolate critical hardware from cyberattacks. Successful attacks against OT networks are rare, …
