Key takeaway: CISA and international authorities recommend physical or tiered network isolation for OT systems of critical infrastructure with regular full tests and manual operation in an isolated state.
The US CISA and Australian ACSC have jointly published the “CI Fortify” guideline with the FBI and international partners. It addresses repeated attacks by state-sponsored groups such as Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, which operated undetected in critical infrastructure networks for years.
According to authorities, Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon managed to remain in critical US infrastructure networks for months or years — including systems of major telecommunications providers and water utilities such as American Water and a water treatment facility in Kansas. The attackers used the extended dwell time to entrench themselves deeply in the systems. The new “CI Fortify” guideline aims to proactively protect organizations from such incidents rather than having to improvise in an emergency.