A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN

This paper introduces a comprehensive risk assessment of various wide area network (WAN) technologies as applied to Operational Technology (OT) infrastructures, thus uncovering which WAN technology is best suited for OT to mitigate the risks of Denial of View (DoV), Denial of Control (DoC), and Deni...

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Main Authors: Van Joshua Abergos, Faiza Medjek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/4/4/42
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author Van Joshua Abergos
Faiza Medjek
author_facet Van Joshua Abergos
Faiza Medjek
author_sort Van Joshua Abergos
collection DOAJ
description This paper introduces a comprehensive risk assessment of various wide area network (WAN) technologies as applied to Operational Technology (OT) infrastructures, thus uncovering which WAN technology is best suited for OT to mitigate the risks of Denial of View (DoV), Denial of Control (DoC), and Denial of Service (DoS). A new risk weight-based evaluation approach is proposed following NIST CSF and ISA/IEC 62443 standard risk scoring (RS). In this approach, RS was modified by introducing new risk metrics, namely, risk (Rn), mitigation (Mm), risk prioritization (WRn), and mitigation prioritization (WMm) to create a specialized probability formula to assess risks on OT WAN infrastructure. The proposed formula has been implemented to automate data analysis and risk scoring across nine WAN technologies. The obtained results demonstrated that software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) has the best security features that even overshadow its vulnerabilities to perform not just as a WAN solution but as a security solution against DoV, DoC, and DoS. Furthermore, this paper identifies and highlights what to prioritize when designing and assessing an SD-WAN setup. In addition, this paper proposes an SD-WAN-based architecture to reduce DoV, DoC, and DoS risks.
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spelling doaj-art-24c9ef5159ce493d8a63ea2d6523a7342024-12-27T14:31:55ZengMDPI AGJournal of Cybersecurity and Privacy2624-800X2024-10-014491093710.3390/jcp4040042A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WANVan Joshua Abergos0Faiza Medjek1Department of Computer Science and Creative Technologies, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Bristol BS16 1QY, UKDepartment of Computer Science and Creative Technologies, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Bristol BS16 1QY, UKThis paper introduces a comprehensive risk assessment of various wide area network (WAN) technologies as applied to Operational Technology (OT) infrastructures, thus uncovering which WAN technology is best suited for OT to mitigate the risks of Denial of View (DoV), Denial of Control (DoC), and Denial of Service (DoS). A new risk weight-based evaluation approach is proposed following NIST CSF and ISA/IEC 62443 standard risk scoring (RS). In this approach, RS was modified by introducing new risk metrics, namely, risk (Rn), mitigation (Mm), risk prioritization (WRn), and mitigation prioritization (WMm) to create a specialized probability formula to assess risks on OT WAN infrastructure. The proposed formula has been implemented to automate data analysis and risk scoring across nine WAN technologies. The obtained results demonstrated that software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) has the best security features that even overshadow its vulnerabilities to perform not just as a WAN solution but as a security solution against DoV, DoC, and DoS. Furthermore, this paper identifies and highlights what to prioritize when designing and assessing an SD-WAN setup. In addition, this paper proposes an SD-WAN-based architecture to reduce DoV, DoC, and DoS risks.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/4/4/42operational technology (OT)industrial control systems (ICS)cyber physical systems (CPS)risk assessmentprioritizationsoftware-defined wide area network
spellingShingle Van Joshua Abergos
Faiza Medjek
A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy
operational technology (OT)
industrial control systems (ICS)
cyber physical systems (CPS)
risk assessment
prioritization
software-defined wide area network
title A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
title_full A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
title_fullStr A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
title_full_unstemmed A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
title_short A Risk Assessment Analysis to Enhance the Security of OT WAN with SD-WAN
title_sort risk assessment analysis to enhance the security of ot wan with sd wan
topic operational technology (OT)
industrial control systems (ICS)
cyber physical systems (CPS)
risk assessment
prioritization
software-defined wide area network
url https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/4/4/42
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