Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 74 | Page 75

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BUILDING A ROBUST OT SECURITY PROGRAMME

As hyperconnectivity sweeps across industries , OT cybersecurity has risen to the top of the CISO ’ s priority list . But this complex environment requires a different approach than enterprise IT . Robert M . Lee , the CEO of Dragos , tells Intelligent CIO Middle East ’ s Jess Abell , about the various types of attacks and threat groups , the importance of threat intelligence and why the Middle East is an important region for the company .

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Why is there more attention on Operational Technology ( OT ) and ICS cybersecurity now than in times past ?
For a long time , organisations have fully appreciated the need to protect critical infrastructure , and it ’ s been a message carried by governments too . However , historically , companies have prioritised enterprise information technology environments . Though that was probably the right call for a long time , the reality is that OT environments are so important as the revenuegenerating side of the house and the one that impacts the environment and safety , etc .
That side of the house has only ever been firewalled off but , as companies worldwide go through Digital Transformation or hyperconnectivity , we ’ re starting to see those OT environments being connected in a significant way and , therefore , an increase in the threats that are actively targeting them .
Organisations have realised that we have underappreciated the risk on the business side that is important for society , so we ’ re seeing a pendulum swing now where they are starting to invest back in OT security .
Jess Abell
You ’ ve got to walk a very delicate balance of helping to inform on the risk without coming off with fear , uncertainty and doubt .
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