Industrial Control Systems (ICS) is a collective term used to describe different types of control systems and associated instrumentation, which include the devices, systems, networks, and controls used to operate and/or automate industrial processes. Advances in smart sensor technology (IoT) and wireless networking have made the blending of Operational Technology (OT) with Information Technology (IT) desirable and cost-effective, however many organisations face device-monitoring challenges within both OT and IT. 
Incumbent ICS and IT monitoring systems are struggling to handle the amount of data and do not offer support for recent advancements. Upgrading the capabilities of these systems to enhance manufacturing data analytics or add much needed features such as capacity planning, anomaly detection or performance monitoring and analytics, or to capture data for root cause analysis is not always possible. 
IT Systems and IoT
IT systems are growing in scale and are often used to collect and execute big data analytics for IoT sensors and predictive analysis for production and predictive failure of large machinery. Monitoring of all these systems has become a massive task that many products find difficult to complete.
IoT devices are generally single board computers running Linux and a specialised application for their function. They tend to be ‘set and forget’ installations that do their job with minimum resources and no maintenance – no password policies, no patching, no log monitoring, etc.
Security is increasing in importance within organisations, as IT in general is a target for malware and attacks. IoT is a special target due to the widely known general lack of security. The Mirai botnet was able to grow as large as it did, due to the use of default passwords on IoT devices. IoT worms have used this blueprint to proliferate since the release of the Mirai source code, and have mostly gone unchecked.
Sightline’s SIAS Solution
Sightline’s Secure Industrial Analytics Solution (SIAS) solution combines their Enterprise Data Manager (EDM) – a powerful systems monitoring and performance analytics solution that provides real-time visibility across today’s modern cloud, virtual and hybrid environments – with Unisys‘s Stealth Zero Trust network microsegmentation product, giving excellent data capture and analysis capabilities, including data in smart factory IoT environments and cryptographic separation.
Organisations struggling with any of these factors should contact Agilient to discuss how Sightline SIAS can assist your business.
Author: David Steele