IT-OT Integration Challenges in Utilities

Abstract

Emerging industrial IoT presupposes integration of operational technology (OT) networks with information technology (IT) networks which hitherto were isolated. IT networks focus primarily on PAIN (Privacy/Confidentiality, Authentication, Integrity and Non-repudiation) OT networks focus primarily on AIC (Availability, Integrity and Confidentiality). The conflicting requirements of availability and confidentiality is a challenge that needs to be overcome in a balanced way to reap the benefits of IT-OT integration. This balancing act requires understanding of the OT domain. This paper considers electrical utility as the use case and brings out the considerations in achieving an acceptable IT-OT framework.