Across the ICS (industrial control system) realm, ensuring security and operational integrity is crucial for organizations in various sectors, amidst the increasing number of cybersecurity threats and attacks. In line with this, the strategies deployed for carrying out patch management across ICS environments should be very carefully planned and performed to ensure minimal operational disruption and risk.
Unlike the typical IT environment, ICS systems are normally continuously in operation and sensitive to any kind of downtime; traditional methods of patch management thus become less practical. First and foremost, a successful patching strategy concerning an ICS is actually an inventory of assets and vulnerability assessment. First of all, it’s important to consider system criticality and system interaction when prioritizing patches. The patching process needs to be focused on systems that are categorized by risk exposure and operational importance, which means applying the patches first to the ones that represent the biggest risk and largest operational impact.
Another good strategy would be to have a test environment established, paralleling the production system….
