Location
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
7-1-2025 12:00 AM
End Date
10-1-2025 12:00 AM
Description
Evolving business demands increasingly expose modern operational technology (OT) systems to external networks. Their vulnerability to contemporary cybersecurity threats due to legacy software and hardware requires proactive measures. While the Zero Trust (ZT) paradigm has been embraced for IT systems, its use in OT systems is largely uncharted. We present a ZT architectural model to modernize and secure critical OT systems. Using a water treatment OT system, we evaluated the ZT-OT architecture against real-world remote-access and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) use cases. Our results show the ZT-OT architecture can help mitigate vulnerabilities associated with threats in specific cases and we identified limitations concerning legacy components and normal operation. Our approach offers insights into the potential and challenges of ZT in protecting OT systems.
Recommended Citation
Song, Meng Wee; Nguyen, Thuy; and Irvine, Cynthia, "A Zero Trust Architecture for Critical Operational Technology Systems" (2025). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2025 (HICSS-58). 3.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/st/digital_forensics/3
A Zero Trust Architecture for Critical Operational Technology Systems
Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Evolving business demands increasingly expose modern operational technology (OT) systems to external networks. Their vulnerability to contemporary cybersecurity threats due to legacy software and hardware requires proactive measures. While the Zero Trust (ZT) paradigm has been embraced for IT systems, its use in OT systems is largely uncharted. We present a ZT architectural model to modernize and secure critical OT systems. Using a water treatment OT system, we evaluated the ZT-OT architecture against real-world remote-access and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) use cases. Our results show the ZT-OT architecture can help mitigate vulnerabilities associated with threats in specific cases and we identified limitations concerning legacy components and normal operation. Our approach offers insights into the potential and challenges of ZT in protecting OT systems.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-58/st/digital_forensics/3