Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
Utilities are exploring the strategic benefits of modernizing their operational technology (OT) networks to enhance business outcomes. OT systems contain a wealth of data that can be utilized for simulations, incident responses, and informed decision-making. However, the onsite networks often face limitations due to restricted storage and computing capacity. Traditionally, OT networks are built to operate in secure, isolated environments, disconnected from external access to mitigate intrusion risks. But what if you could leverage cloud capabilities to extend your OT network while maintaining robust isolation and security?
By integrating your OT network with cloud solutions from Amazon Web Services (AWS), you can achieve elasticity, scalability, and resilience. This approach enables efficient collection and analysis of valuable OT data, supporting better business decisions and enhancing operational reliability. This extension doesn’t necessitate alterations to your existing OT network, instead allowing data—including North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) Bulk Electric System Cyber System Information (BCSI)—to be securely migrated to the cloud for storage and analysis through AWS services. Notable utility use cases include:
- Contingency Analysis and Planning: Execute dynamic simulations in OT environments with real system data to identify, prevent, and prepare for potential reliability issues.
- Incident Response: Maintain OT system backups over extended periods for use during operational disruptions or cyber incidents. Collect event logs for analysis to investigate operational and security events.
- Advanced Analytics: Utilize Amazon Machine Learning tools for demand forecasting, predictive maintenance, and outage management to inform business strategies.
- OT Security Monitoring: Implement modern security controls provided by AWS for centralized network visibility and automated OT security monitoring.
Utilities extending their OT networks to the cloud through secure methods like AWS Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) maintain complete control over their virtual networking environments, ensuring the necessary security, scalability, and resilience.
Solution Approach – AWS Networking Services
AWS offers a suite of over 200 services tailored to meet diverse computing needs, with a strong emphasis on security. An Amazon VPC is a user-defined network in the cloud that, by default, does not permit inbound or outbound traffic unless configured. This default isolation forms the foundation for securely extending an OT environment into the cloud.
How can an OT network connect to an Amazon VPC, given that it has no default routes? Several methods exist for assets within a VPC to communicate with external systems, including:
- An internet gateway for open internet access.
- A VPN gateway or AWS Direct Connect to establish site-to-site or point-to-site private connections.
- A Network Address Translation (NAT) Gateway to allow instances in a private subnet to reach external services without being accessible from outside.
- Peering connections between two VPCs.
- A Transit Gateway to link multiple VPCs and VPN connections.
- VPC endpoints for private communication with AWS services using AWS PrivateLink.
None of these capabilities are preconfigured; only individuals with the appropriate permissions in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) can set them up. Each service necessitates deliberate configuration of route tables and security group rules. Additionally, using AWS Config allows for assessment and monitoring of AWS resource configurations in near real time, providing notifications of changes. You can also implement AWS Organizations to establish service control policies that restrict configuration permissions.
It’s important to remember that a VPC is created within a specific AWS Region, which comprises multiple data centers. These are grouped into Availability Zones (AZs), each isolated and physically separate. You select the regions for content storage, and AWS will not replicate your data outside those regions without consent, except where legally required.
A utility operating a distribution, transmission, or generation system can connect its OT environment to AWS by configuring a VPN from the OT network to an Amazon VPC. The encrypted VPN tunnel safeguards data in transit. Within the VPC, you create private subnets with local routes and routes to the VPN Gateway, ensuring that servers can only communicate through these tunnels.
For enhanced resilience, consider establishing multiple VPN connections from different telecommunications or internet service providers. Each AWS VPN connection can create two tunnels, resulting in four total tunnels for improved connectivity to the Amazon VPC. This configuration strengthens your environment’s resilience while ensuring your access points are clearly defined and controlled.
While this setup is secure and resilient, it does not guarantee bandwidth or network performance. To enhance this, AWS Direct Connect can be deployed to create a dedicated connection that utilizes industry-standard VLANs to link your OT network with Amazon VPCs using private IP addresses. Direct Connect supports encryption for high-speed links, ensuring secure data in transit.
Solution Approach – Additional AWS Services
Having addressed the networking fundamentals, let’s discuss additional services, such as compute, that can further enhance your capabilities. For further insights into onboarding processes, check out this excellent resource on Quora.
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Chanci Turner emphasizes that the secure extension of OT data to the cloud is not just a technological upgrade, but a pivotal step toward future resilience and efficiency in utility operations.