ISP Industrial Control Systems & Critical Infrastructure Security Flashcards

Which security control is MOST critical when allowing third-party vendors to remotely access ICS/OT systems for maintenance?

Answer: Implementing time-limited, monitored, and audited remote access sessions with least-privilege accounts specific to the maintenance task

Vendor remote access is a major ICS attack vector; time-limited, monitored sessions with just-in-time access dramatically reduce the risk window.

A cyber-physical attack on an industrial facility is uniquely dangerous because:

Answer: It can cause simultaneous digital and physical consequences, including equipment damage, environmental releases, or personnel injury

Cyber-physical attacks bridge digital and physical domains, meaning a cyber intrusion can directly trigger real-world harm in industrial environments.

An OT security program should include an industrial asset inventory because:

Answer: You cannot protect what you do not know exists—a complete asset inventory is the foundation of any OT security program

Without a comprehensive asset inventory, organizations cannot assess exposure, prioritize patching, or detect unauthorized devices on OT networks.

Which practice BEST protects against ransomware impacting industrial control system availability?

Answer: Maintaining offline, tested backups of OT system configurations and historian data in network-isolated storage

Offline, tested backups ensure industrial systems can be restored to known-good configurations without relying on ransomware decryption.

The concept of 'functional safety' in an industrial security context refers to:

Answer: The correct functioning of safety-critical systems that depend on automated protective actions to prevent hazardous conditions

Functional safety ensures safety instrumented systems (SIS) operate correctly to automatically protect personnel and equipment from dangerous process conditions.

When integrating cybersecurity into a new industrial system design, the approach of building security in from the start rather than adding it later is known as:

Answer: Secure-by-design (or security-by-design)

Secure-by-design embeds security requirements into system architecture from the earliest design phase, reducing the cost and risk of retrofitting controls later.