Zero Belief Community Entry (ZTNA) is a safe distant entry service that verifies distant customers and grants entry solely to particular assets at particular occasions primarily based on identification and context insurance policies. That is half 2 in our ZTNA weblog collection for operational environments. Learn the primary weblog right here.
Proper now, someplace on the earth a robotic arm wants a firmware improve, a wind turbine is stalled, and a freeway message signal is displaying gibberish. If your online business relies on operational know-how (OT) or industrial management programs (ICS), it is advisable to permit machine builders, upkeep contractors, or your personal consultants and technicians to remotely entry tools for configuration, troubleshooting, and updates.
Shrink the danger with ZTNA
In our final weblog we gave a ten,000-foot view of Cisco Safe Tools Entry (SEA) and the way it might help to safe distant entry to your industrial community. Cisco SEA is a Zero Belief Community Entry (ZTNA) answer controlling who can join, which OT property they’ll entry, and when. It begins with a default deny posture and provides least-privilege entry solely as soon as it trusts the person identification.
Clientless and agent-based ZTNA
Along with proscribing entry to particular property and schedules, Cisco SEA also can limit the entry methodology distant technicians can use to log into an OT asset. If they’re utilizing RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, or HTTP(S), they solely want an internet browser—no shopper software program is required. Cisco SEA proxies all distant entry visitors, which means that customers by no means have direct IP entry to the asset or the community. Utterly isolating important assets provides you unmatched safety.
In some conditions, you may want a full IP communication path between the distant person and an OT asset. Examples are if technicians are utilizing a vendor-specific administration software program, modifying a PLC program utilizing a local desktop utility, or transferring recordsdata to and from an asset. To handle these superior use instances, Cisco SEA provides an agent-based ZTNA entry methodology known as SEA Plus.
SEA Plus installs a light-weight utility on the distant person’s laptop to create a safe end-to-end IP reference to the OT asset, enabling any TCP, UDP, and ICMP communications. Nonetheless, not like the community extension provided by a VPN answer, visitors all the time goes by means of the SEA belief dealer, which enforces safety insurance policies equivalent to which property might be accessed, when, and which protocols and ports can be utilized.
General, SEA Plus gives native IP entry to operational know-how from distant computer systems, however with out the necessity to design, deploy, and preserve a VPN infrastructure. It additionally strengthens and simplifies safety with extremely granular controls tightly proscribing entry to OT property as required by the ZTNA least-privilege precept.
Take ZTNA to the subsequent degree with automated security-posture checks
Management over the who, what, how, and when of distant entry is a huge step towards strong safety of your industrial community and significant infrastructure. However when utilizing SEA Plus, you might be granting full IP entry to an asset. How will you ensure the person’s laptop won’t expose the asset to malware or malicious visitors? To realize full belief, it is advisable to confirm the machine the technician is utilizing to log in.
Excellent news: Cisco SEA and Cisco Duo work collectively to robotically test machine well being earlier than granting entry to an asset. When a distant person tries to determine a session utilizing the SEA Plus entry methodology, Duo verifies that the person’s laptop complies along with your safety insurance policies—for instance, working system model and patch degree, firewall standing, use of antivirus software program, and extra. If a tool doesn’t meet your necessities, the technician can not acquire entry.
Stronger safety with much less effort
Summing up: As a hybrid-cloud answer, Cisco SEA avoids the prices and complexity to keep up safe distant entry capabilities at scale throughout your industrial community and significant infrastructure. As a ZTNA answer, it permits you to take management again by implementing least-privilege safety insurance policies primarily based on identification and context. And with the combination between SEA and Duo, it’s also possible to test the safety posture of distant computer systems—one other key facet of zero belief.
Test again quickly for our subsequent ZTNA weblog, to find out how Cisco Safe Tools Entry might help you monitor distant entry periods for regulatory compliance, investigating incidents, or coaching functions.
Within the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our OT Safety publication, be taught extra about Cisco Safe Tools Entry (SEA), and take a look at our Cisco Validated Design Information for help on the way to implement ZTNA in your operational surroundings.
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