On December 16, MITRE announced that it has extended its D3FEND cybersecurity ontology to operational technology (OT), creating a structured knowledge base for defending cyber-physical systems. OT includes the controllers, sensors, and actuators that manage physical processes in critical infrastructure, industrial environments, and the defense systems that support service members in their missions. Unlike information technology, which handles data and communications, OT directly affects how machines and systems operate.
As organizations modernize, OT systems are connected to networks and the cloud. This improves efficiency but also introduces new cyber risks, since many OT components were never built for internet exposure. The D3FEND extension provides a common framework to help the cybersecurity community better understand, secure, and sustain these essential systems.
Funded by the Cyber Warfare Directorate in the U.S. Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment and the National Security Agency, D3FEND is expanding into specific domains, including cyber-physical systems that create real-world effects through programmed actions. D3FEND for OT delivers a stable, extensible, and integration-friendly framework to support cybersecurity operations and strategic decision making in OT environments.
“Through D3FEND, we are advancing the cybersecurity frontier alongside the global community,” said Wen Masters, vice president, cyber technologies, MITRE. “As a not-for-profit organization dedicated to national security, we are strategically positioned to tackle complex, high-stakes challenges. The launch of D3FEND for OT demonstrates our unwavering commitment to delivering unbiased, open-sourced tools that are mission-critical.”
Source: MITRE
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