Why the IT and OT Amalgamation Must Be Driven by IT
Welspun's Cybersecurity Head Dharmesh Rathod on Extending the IT Landscape to IoTIn an increasingly interconnected world, we are moving from the Internet of People to IoT to the Internet of Applications, which broadens the attack surface and presents new security risks. Could common governance and policy for IT, OT and industrial control systems (ICS) - driven by the IT team - mitigate the risks?
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"Today, all major industries are connected using non-IT components," says Dharmesh Rathod, head of cybersecurity, Welspun. "We have known the IT landscape well in past decades. We are familiar with the security controls (for IT) but, for IoT, this has been newly adopted."
Since IoT implementation in the enterprise is a "new segment and a new landscape," he recommends that organizations should take stock of all functions.
"The security aspects and controls (for OT) come into the picture when it is underlined with the IT landscape. And this needs to be driven by the IT teams," Rathod says.
It's not practical for different teams to come up with their own security policies. Therefore the IT team needs to streamline the process and make the convergence efficient.
In a video interview with Information Security Media Group, Rathod also discusses:
- Extending the IT landscape to OT;
- Common policy and governance for IT, OT and ICS;
- Security risks posed by legacy infrastructure in the manufacturing industry.
Rathod has more than 22 years of experience with niche domains such as cybersecurity architecture, regulatory compliance, IT and OT, ICS, DCS, IoT, critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Previously, he was the group CISO at the Adani Group, an eminent conglomerate with businesses within multiple industries across India.