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In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the challenges surrounding cybersecurity are growing exponentially. Industrial sectors, including energy, manufacturing, and utilities, are increasingly becoming targets for cyber threats, particularly as their reliance on Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) expands. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, traditional approaches to cybersecurity are proving insufficient to safeguard these critical infrastructures.
To address these challenges, organizations are turning to digital twins and smart digital reality as innovative methods for cyber risk mitigation. While digital twinning has primarily been associated with asset management and operational efficiency, its role in cybersecurity is gaining attention due to its capacity to simulate, anticipate, and respond to cyber threats before they can cause significant disruption. This article explores the importance of incorporating digital twins and smart digital reality into cyber risk strategies, highlighting how this approach transcends traditional monitoring to enhance overall cyber defense
Beyond Traditional Monitoring: A Proactive Approach
For years, many industries have relied on traditional cybersecurity measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and incident response plans to secure their infrastructure. While these tools provide valuable protection, they primarily operate in a reactive capacity, monitoring existing threats and vulnerabilities and responding only after suspicious activity is detected. In an era where cybercriminals are constantly innovating and launching complex, multi-vector attacks, this reactive approach is no longer sufficient.
Digital twins offer a transformative solution. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system, whether it be a factory floor, a pipeline, or an entire power grid. In a cybersecurity context, digital twins can simulate the entire OT/ICS environment, including interconnected systems, processes, and devices. This approach creates a “living” model of an industrial ecosystem that continuously reflects real-world conditions while operating in a controlled, virtual space. Additionally, digital twins can create a virtual representation of critical configuration files, which can be utilized to establish a baseline and effectively manage changes, inventory, and vulnerabilities within the system.
Integrating digital twinning into cybersecurity strategies enables the proactive identification of vulnerabilities. Instead of waiting for a cyberattack to occur, organizations can simulate potential scenarios and threats within the virtual twin environment. This method assesses how an attack might unfold and its potential impacts on real-world operations—without risking actual physical infrastructure.
Real-world Application
In the event of a TRITON/TRISIS attack, which targets Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and aims to manipulate safety systems, having a digital twin in place can be crucial for mitigating risks. For instance, imagine an oil refinery that relies on various safety configurations to monitor and control the operation of its processes.
As the TRITON/TRISIS attack unfolds, the malicious code begins to alter critical configuration files related to the safety system settings, potentially disabling essential fail-safes. However, the digital twin continuously monitors and replicates the real-time state of the ICS environment, including the current state of configuration files.
Upon detecting unauthorized changes to these files within the digital twin, the system triggers an alert. Security teams can immediately review the digital twin to analyze the extent of the changes and their implications for operational safety. By comparing the modified configuration files against the established baseline—stored within the digital twin—they can identify which specific parameters have been altered.
To prevent a potential catastrophe, the security team can swiftly revert the configuration files in the actual control system back to the last known safe state using the baseline data from the digital twin. This action restores the safety settings and ensures that the critical protective measures are operational again, effectively neutralizing the threat before it can cause harm to the facility or its personnel.
In a different scenario, consider a ransomware attack targeting an oil pipeline’s control system. A traditional security approach may detect the breach too late, after damage has already been inflicted. In contrast, a digital twin allows for the simulation of the same attack in advance, enabling the identification of weak points and the implementation of defenses before the attack occurs in the real world.
This proactive, preemptive capacity marks a significant advancement in cyber risk mitigation. Rather than responding to an attack after it has commenced, organizations can stay one step ahead by simulating attacks, analyzing potential outcomes, and implementing protective measures before threats materialize.
More Informed Decision-Making and Strategic Planning
Another critical advantage of integrating smart digital reality and digital twins into cybersecurity is the ability to make more informed decisions. By simulating and analyzing potential threats, organizations gain valuable insights into their most critical vulnerabilities and can allocate resources effectively to defend against them.
This proactive risk assessment facilitates a shift from a reactive “firefighting” mentality—where security teams scramble to address immediate crises—to a strategic planning mindset. Decision-makers can anticipate risks and plan mitigation strategies more effectively, leveraging data from digital twins to predict the impact of potential attacks. This capacity to anticipate allows organizations to strengthen defenses and optimize response protocols in advance.
Moreover, the use of digital twins enables continuous testing of various cyber defense mechanisms in a risk-free virtual environment. Security teams can deploy and stress-test different strategies—such as applying patches, reconfiguring firewalls, or enhancing encryption—within the digital twin. This experimentation identifies the most effective tactics for different scenarios, instilling confidence in their real-world applications.
As industries continue to digitize and interconnect their systems, the complexity of security planning will only increase. Digital twins help simplify this complexity by offering real-time, data-driven insights into an organization’s vulnerabilities, empowering more precise operational decisions that minimize risk and enhance resilience.
Cost Savings and Operational Efficiencies
A third significant advantage of leveraging digital twins and smart digital reality in cyber risk mitigation is the potential for cost savings and operational efficiencies. Cybersecurity incidents, particularly in industrial environments, can lead to substantial financial losses due to operational downtime, equipment damage, and reputational harm. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach has risen to over $4 million globally. For industries relying on OT and ICS, the financial consequences of a security breach can be even more severe.
Digital twins help minimize these risks by allowing companies to simulate various “what if” scenarios without jeopardizing actual operations. For example, an oil refinery could use its digital twin to simulate a potential cyberattack targeting its process control systems. This simulation may reveal vulnerabilities in specific systems or protocols, enabling the company to address those weaknesses without any real-world impact on production.
These simulated attacks provide valuable insights into how vulnerabilities evolve under different conditions, optimizing incident response planning and enhancing overall operational resilience. This approach also reduces unnecessary costs that might arise from traditional “trial and error” methods, where companies must spend resources responding to real incidents that could have been prevented.
Furthermore, digital twins can contribute to operational efficiency by streamlining routine maintenance and updates to security infrastructure. Instead of pausing operations to apply patches, companies can test the impact of updates within the digital twin first, ensuring that changes will not disrupt critical processes. This efficiency is crucial for industries where downtime can result in millions of dollars in lost production.
Conclusion
The rise of smart digital reality and digital twins in OT/ICS cybersecurity represents a significant advancement in cyber risk mitigation. By moving beyond traditional monitoring methods, organizations can proactively simulate and analyze potential threats, anticipate vulnerabilities, and make more informed operational decisions. The ability to simulate real-world scenarios in a virtual environment not only leads to cost savings and operational efficiencies but also helps organizations stay ahead of an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat landscape.
As digital twins continue to evolve with advancements in AI, machine learning, and immersive technologies like AR and VR, they will become indispensable tools for securing the critical infrastructures that power modern society. For organizations invested in protecting their OT and ICS environments, integrating digital twins and smart digital reality into cyber risk strategies is no longer merely an option; it is a necessity.
In the future, cybersecurity will focus not on reacting to threats as they arise but on anticipating and preventing them before they can impact real-world operations.
Syed M. Belal is Global Director of OT/ICS Cybersecurity Strategy & Enablement for Hexagon’s Asset Lifecyle Intelligence division. Syed has more than 16 years of experience in industrial control systems and operational technology spanning industrial automation, SCADA, control, and safety systems applications used in critical infrastructure. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and minor in Computer Engineering from the American University of Sharjah in the UAE and an M.B.A. in Business Strategy from the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom as well as many industry certifications, including CISSP®, CISA®, and CISM®.
Syed can be reached online at [email protected] and at Hexagon website https://aliresources.hexagon.com/authors/syed-belal
