Center of Excellence Security - Penetration Testing

Protecting the Backbone of
Industry – Operational Technology

Securing your operational technology, safeguarding critical infrastructure, and ensuring resilient, uninterrupted operations in an increasingly connected world.

Operational Technology (OT) Penetration Testing at COE Security

At COE Security, our Operational Technology (OT) Penetration Testing service is specifically designed to help organizations safeguard their industrial control systems (ICS), SCADA systems, and other OT environments. OT systems are essential for critical infrastructure, such as power grids, manufacturing plants, transportation systems, and utilities, and their security is crucial for ensuring the integrity, safety, and availability of these environments.

Given the unique nature of OT environments often running legacy systems with minimal security controls and having direct physical impacts targeted attacks can lead to severe operational disruptions or safety hazards. Our team leverages specialized testing techniques to simulate advanced cyberattacks against your OT systems, identifying vulnerabilities that could be exploited to cause outages, steal sensitive data, or even impact the safety of industrial processes.

With COE Security’s OT Penetration Testing, you can proactively uncover and address security weaknesses in your OT infrastructure, helping to minimize risk and protect your organization’s critical assets.

Our Approach

Define the OT Environment Scope: Identify and document the critical assets, devices, networks, and systems within the OT environment that will be included in the penetration test.
Assess OT Network Architecture: Gather information about the network architecture, including protocols, communication paths, and system interdependencies, to understand how OT components interact.
Evaluate OT Device Configurations: Review the configurations of industrial control systems (ICS), SCADA systems, and other OT devices for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and default settings that may pose risks.
Conduct Reconnaissance and Asset Mapping: Perform reconnaissance to map out the OT network, identifying exposed systems, devices, and possible attack vectors such as wireless connections or remote access points.
Test for Weaknesses in Protocols: Analyze the protocols used within OT environments (e.g., Modbus, DNP3, OPC) to identify weaknesses that can be exploited for unauthorized access or denial of service attacks.

Simulate Attacks on OT Systems: Conduct controlled attacks on OT systems to exploit vulnerabilities, focusing on system availability, integrity, and unauthorized control over industrial processes.
Evaluate Physical Security Vulnerabilities: Assess the physical security measures around OT systems, including access controls, device tampering prevention, and environmental controls, to identify risks of physical exploitation.
Test for Insider Threats and Privilege Escalation: Simulate insider attacks to test how vulnerabilities in access controls and authentication mechanisms can be leveraged to escalate privileges or manipulate OT systems.
Generate a Detailed Findings Report: Document the discovered vulnerabilities, potential attack vectors, and risk levels, along with actionable recommendations to mitigate identified security risks.
Conduct Follow-Up Testing and Remediation: After the initial remediation, perform additional testing to verify the effectiveness of implemented fixes and ensure the OT environment is securely hardened.

Physical Security Testing

Firmware Analysis

Network Security Testing

Incident Response and Recovery Testing

OT Testing Process

Our established methodology delivers comprehensive testing and actionable recommendations.

Analyze

Threat Model

Active Testing

Business Logic Analysis

Reporting

Why Choose COE Security’s OT Penetration Testing?

Industry-Specific Expertise: Our team has deep knowledge of OT security, including familiarity with protocols and systems specific to industrial environments such as SCADA, PLCs, and DCS.
Tailored Testing Methodology: We customize our testing approach to the unique needs of your OT environment, accounting for the specific risks and operational needs of your critical infrastructure.
Comprehensive Security Coverage: Our penetration testing covers all OT assets, including physical devices, networks, software, and protocols, ensuring a full assessment of your security posture.
Real-World Attack Simulations: We simulate realistic attack scenarios, including both external and internal threats, to identify vulnerabilities and assess the impact of potential breaches in a controlled manner.
Proven Tools for OT Environments: We use specialized tools and techniques tailored for OT environments, ensuring that testing is both effective and non-disruptive to operational processes.

Risk-Driven Approach: Our penetration tests prioritize vulnerabilities based on their potential impact, allowing you to focus resources on mitigating the highest-risk issues first.
Physical and Cyber Security Integration: We address both the cyber and physical security of your OT systems, identifying risks from unauthorized physical access, device tampering, and environmental threats.
Compliance and Regulatory Alignment: Our testing helps ensure that your OT systems comply with industry-specific regulations such as NIST, ISA/IEC 62443, and other relevant standards.
Post-Test Remediation Support: COE Security provides ongoing support and guidance after penetration testing to help remediate vulnerabilities and enhance your overall OT security strategy.
Proven Track Record in OT Security: With years of experience securing critical infrastructure, COE Security is trusted by organizations in industries such as manufacturing, energy, and utilities to protect their OT environments.

Five areas of Infrastructure Security

Penetration Testing as a Service

Our Penetration Testing as a Service (PTaaS) extends to Operational Technology (OT) environments, focusing on identifying vulnerabilities that could be exploited in industrial control systems (ICS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and other OT devices. Through continuous, on-demand penetration testing, we simulate real-world attacks on your OT systems to identify weaknesses in the hardware, software, network configurations, and communication protocols. We test for vulnerabilities such as unsecured remote access points, unpatched systems, insecure communication channels, and potential denial-of-service attacks. Regular penetration testing helps ensure that your OT infrastructure remains secure against evolving cyber threats, preventing disruptions, damage, or unauthorized access.

Compliance as a Service

Regulatory compliance is critical in OT environments, especially given the critical nature of the systems involved in sectors like energy, manufacturing, transportation, and utilities. Our Compliance as a Service ensures that your OT systems adhere to industry-specific regulations, such as NIST, ISO 27001, IEC 62443, and other OT cybersecurity standards. We assess your OT environment for compliance gaps related to data protection, network security, access control, and incident response. By providing regular compliance assessments and remediation support, we help ensure that your OT systems are aligned with the necessary regulatory frameworks, minimizing legal risks and helping maintain business continuity in a compliant manner.

Security Program Development

Developing a comprehensive Security Program is essential for securing your Operational Technology (OT) systems against cyber threats. We work with your team to create a robust security program tailored to the unique needs of your OT environment. This includes establishing security policies, procedures, and governance frameworks specific to OT systems, as well as conducting risk assessments, vulnerability management, and incident response planning. We help develop and implement protocols to protect OT networks from cyberattacks, ensuring that security is integrated into every aspect of your OT operations. By building a strong security program, we ensure that your OT infrastructure is resilient and able to withstand evolving threats.

Cloud Security Consulting

With increasing reliance on cloud platforms for data storage, analysis, and management in OT environments, securing these connections is crucial. Our Cloud Security Consulting service helps ensure that your OT systems’ cloud infrastructure is configured securely. We assess the security of cloud-based OT services, focusing on secure data transmission, encryption, and access control to prevent unauthorized access or data breaches. Additionally, we guide your team on best practices for cloud security, ensuring that your OT systems are protected against vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the cloud. With secure cloud infrastructure, your OT environment can take full advantage of cloud technologies while minimizing the risk of cyber threats.

Cyber Resilience

Cyber Resilience is critical for ensuring the continued operation of your OT systems in the face of cyberattacks. Our Cyber Resilience service focuses on strengthening your OT systems’ ability to anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to cyber incidents. This includes developing incident response plans, implementing backup systems, hardening networks, and integrating redundant systems to ensure minimal disruption in case of a cyberattack. We help you create a resilient OT infrastructure by combining preventive, detective, and corrective measures. By enhancing the cyber resilience of your OT environment, we ensure that your systems can recover quickly from attacks, minimizing downtime and maintaining operational continuity.

Advanced Offensive Security Solutions

COE Security empowers your organization with on-demand expertise to uncover vulnerabilities, remediate risks, and strengthen your security posture. Our scalable approach enhances agility, enabling you to address current challenges and adapt to future demands without expanding your workforce.