Tenable, Forescout Both Merge Their IT and OT Security Platforms

Preventing damaging intrusions to increasingly comingled IT and operational technology (OT) domains is the goal of security product integrations announced this week by Tenable and Forescout Technologies.The growth of the IT/OT security segment mirrors convergence overall. Networks increasingly share data as new flows are established between connected IT devices, public and private cloud-based applications, and operational technology systems, according to Sandeep Kumar, senior director of product marketing at Forescout. A malicious intruder gaining entry can move laterally within these interconnected networks. Kumar cited the Mirai and WannaCry botnets as attacks in which most of the damage was on the OT side. The results are potentially devastating. “Bad actors are actively targeting critical infrastructure by way of compromising IT assets,” said Eitan Goldstein, Tenable’s senior director of strategic initiatives. “The most eye-opening proof point was the joint DHS and FBI alert last year that warned of Russian state-sponsored cyber actors targeting IT networks, and then attempting to move laterally to compromise industrial control systems (ICS). These threats are exacerbated by new, critical vulnerabilities found in OT systems.