Human behavior can have a very significant impact on OT security. Mistakes or human-related actions, intentional and unintentional, can lead to disastrous consequences and may amount to critical security risks against which OT (operational technology) needs to be guarded. Understanding human behavior in the context of OT security should thus become an important influence on how organizations implement policies, plans, and procedures to manage and mitigate human factor-related risks.
Better OT security is driven by effective management of human behavior, underpinning a security awareness culture, introducing tight access controls, and putting in place robust incident response plans. Training for employees is an important enabler to improve OT security posture, ensuring persons understand the importance of security protocols and procedures.
Protecting OT from human-related security risks requires a multi-faceted approach, including the use of technology to influence human behavior. This could come in the form of security-aware design principles, user behavior analytics, and security training programs.
This necessitates finding common ground between security and usability in OT…
