Logo of Acalvio, a leading company in cyber deception technology

In Operational Technology (OT) environments, where systems control physical processes and infrastructure essential to industries like manufacturing, energy, and transportation, the stakes for maintaining security are particularly high.

Cyber deception provides threat detection capabilities in OT environments, where devices have limited computational power and can’t run agents. Because decoys run independently of OT systems, they provide precise and high fidelity alerts with no interference or added system load.

OT Threats Gaining in Sophistication

Adversaries exploiting IT and OT assets in the OT environment

Ransomware

  • Ransomware is one of the top threats targeting OT environments
  • Ransomware variants targeting OT include Lockbit and Alphv
  • Examples incidents: Colonial Pipeline, Norsk Hydro

ICS Malware

  • OT malware performs OT/ICS specific exploits (Pipedream)
  • OT malware exploits OT and ICS protocols

Insider Threats

  • Insider threats represent a significant challenge in OT environments
  • Insiders have trusted access to IT and OT assets

Identity Threats

  • Adversaries leverage identity-driven attacks to target IT and OT assets
  • Adversaries target Active Directory in OT environments

Supply Chain Attacks

  • Adversaries inject malicious code into software libraries in OT equipment
  • Adversaries exploit trusted access to perform malicious activity
OT Environment

Environment

  • OT security has largely relied on air gapping as a prevention control
  • Increased connectivity between IT and OT make air gapping less effective
  • Internet connectivity for OT equipment creates attack pathways
  • Patching OT equipment is often challenging and introduces risk of system instability
Security Control

Security Control Limitations

  • Special form factors, make agent-based security solutions less effective
  • Security typically limited to NDR
  • EDR cannot be deployed on OT equipment. limiting EDR efficacy
  • Obtaining access to logs can be challenging

Deception Is an Effective Detection Layer for OT Security

Deception does not impact production OT assets

Detect threats targeting IT and OT assets in the OT environment

Detects OT threats early in the attack lifecycle: During reconnaissance and lateral movement phases

Divert threats toward decoys and away from production OT assets

Acalvio's  Deceptions is effective detection layer for OT Security

Deception does not impact production OT assets

Detect threats targeting IT and OT assets in the OT environment

Detects OT threats early in the attack lifecycle: During reconnaissance and lateral movement phases

Divert threats toward decoys and away from production OT assets

Acalvio's Deceptions is an effective detection layer for OT Security

Acalvio Provides a Comprehensive
Cyber Deception Solution for OT

Acalvio's offers prebuilt  cyber deception solutions for OT Protocol

Prebuilt decoys that support multiple OT protocols and devices

Agentless solutions with minimal deployment footprint by Acalvia

Agentless solution with minimal deployment footprint and no production impact

Acalvio provides Packaged Playbooks to protect OT assets

Packaged Playbooks to protect OT assets

ICS Mitre Icon

Detections mapped to MITRE ICS matrix

The Honeywell Threat Defense Platform (HTDP) – Powered By Acalvio

The Honeywell Threat Defense Platform (HTDP) features autonomous deception technology from Acalvio, which helps thwart threat actors and provide accurate threat detection for buildings’ operational technology environments.

The HTDP service frees up internal security team resources, making it well-suited to organizations that need advanced detection but don’t have IT specialists dedicated to cybersecurity and don’t want to install or operate complex technology.

Acalvio Supports Industry Standards for OT Security


Represent assets
across all levels of OT reference architecture.

Zone Reference Architecture

Next Steps

Defend your OT environment from cyber threats

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