Sekuro & Dragos team up to fortify Australian critical infrastructure

Australian-based cybersecurity consultancy Sekuro has teamed up with Dragos, a global specialist in cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) environments, to respond to increasing cyber threats against Australian critical infrastructure.

Through Sekuro's partnership with Dragos, exclusive customers will derive maximum benefits from the Dragos Platform, tapping into the expertise and support of Sekuro. Becoming a value-added reseller, Sekuro will utilise Dragos technology in delivering extensive asset visibility, vulnerability management, and industry-leading threat detection in OT environments. As a managed service provider for Dragos, Sekuro can now administer a converged dashboard for both OT and IT infrastructure, consolidating all alerts in one centralised location.

Society's growing dependence on operational technology systems within critical infrastructure has led to increased risks, leaving the foundation of our society susceptible to attacks. Research from Dragos has highlighted an alarming 50% increase in ransomware attacks against industrial organisations in 2023. Attacks against OT systems are particularly damaging as they can induce service disruptions, inflict economic damage, pose threats to public safety, and potentially endanger lives. Evidence of such significant impacts includes the Colonial Pipeline attack in 2021 and the recent disabling of DP Worldwide, Australia's largest port operator, which was obliged to cease its operations for days due to a cyberattack.

Sekuro is no stranger to offering targeted services to address the unique challenges posed to those maintaining OT and critical infrastructure. Its services range includes vulnerability assessments of current organisational infrastructure by its Offensive Security team, risk assessment and compliance monitoring with essential regulations, such as the 2018 SOCI Act by its Governance, Risk, and Compliance Team and physical penetration testing of OT assets by Sekuro's Black Team. These services will be fortified through the recent partnership with Dragos.

Noel Allnutt, CEO of Sekuro, spoke of the latent impact that attacks on OT can have on society and expressed concern over the prevalence of low OT security maturity in Australia. "As IT and OT converge, our customers are coming to us for guidance on how to secure critical infrastructure," he stated. He also pointed out the unique challenges and requirements for OT and critical infrastructure environments. Allnutt went on to say, "Our capabilities are now strengthened by Dragos and will enhance operational continuity and safety."

Justifying Sekuro's choice of partner, Allnutt went on to praise Dragos's reputation as a leading OT security technology provider with unmatched expertise and experience in handling OT security incidents. He highlighted the Dragos Platform as offering superior visibility and insights and being the sole vendor that provides services to boost the abilities of customers and partners.

Hayley Turner, Area Vice President, APAC of Dragos, echoed the alignment of Sekuro and Dragos's missions and termed the partnership as a harmonious blending of Sekuro's deep-seated expertise in the Enterprise IT landscape and Dragos's world-class technology and experience in the OT domain. Turner added, "We share Sekuro's dedication to reducing cyber risk and building business resiliency for industrial organisations."