Digital case study
Making sure that critical, always-on infrastructure stays on—and stays secure
PwC helps the State of Israel improve its cyber resilience by designing, building and operating a national laboratory and test centre for critical industrial control systems and operational technology
Cybersecurity is a priority for the State of Israel, both for its own national security and for the businesses operating in the country. To advance its cybersecurity agenda, the Ministry of Energy and the National Cyber Directorate issued a tender – which PwC won – for the development and operation of a National Cyber-Kinetic Lab for Industrial Control Systems and Operational Technology (ICS and OT), a facility to test the technological and physical impact of cyberattacks and evaluate methods to remediate them.
Client: Israeli Ministry of Energy and National Cyber Directorate
Our Role: Partnered on designing, developing, and operating a national cyber-kinetic laboratory to test and improve the cyber resilience of industrial and critical infrastructure.
Industry: Government
Services: Cybersecurity, IT/OT development
Country: Israel
Setting the scene
In the past, the only way to test the defences of a facility targeted by a cyberattack was to wait for one to happen or simulate an attack at the facility itself. Neither of these is a good option, so the concept of using an off-site, cyber-kinetic testing lab started gaining traction, seeded, in part, by a bold vision set out by the Israeli Ministry of Energy.
In 2018, PwC developed what it calls the Cyber Security Experience Centre (CSEC), to recreate real-world critical infrastructure control units in a lab environment where their resilience can be assessed. The government of Israel wanted to use a similar approach and chose PwC to work with it on its National Cyber-Kinetic Lab for ICS and OT, a larger-scale testing centre that is designed to strengthen the country’s cyber defences and make citizens safer, and to help the country meet its goal of becoming one of the five leading countries in the world in cybersecurity technology.
“We are very impressed by the innovation of the new national lab for ICS for the energy sector, bringing together the old world of Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and the new innovation of PwC. It is being built for the energy sector, initially, but could be useful for many other sectors. It will become more and more fascinating as the lab expands to more and more sectors in the market.”
How we helped
The 1,000 square metre lab will simulate cyberattacks on scale models of actual infrastructure control systems for critical services, including oil & gas facilities, electric power stations and water systems. This hands-on approach allows for a more accurate assessment of the effects of cyberattacks on both software and hardware. For example, if a water purification plant is attacked with a software virus that interferes with the controls on the chemicals used to clean the water, what effect could that virus have on the physical plant, and how could it be detected as early as possible.
Impact and potential
National cyber authorities, government agencies, and industrial enterprises – from large multinationals to SMEs – that need to test and improve their OT cyber-resilience, or to train their staff, will have a new resource. And similarly, cyber-technology companies and academic researchers that want to test new defence technologies and methodologies. Many industry insiders see the Israeli concept of a National Cyber-Kinetic Lab for ICS and OT as a potential global game-changer, filling a gap in industrial and national cybersecurity defences and promoting innovation in the OT Security arena.
“It’s very difficult to test cybersecurity technology of critical, always-on infrastructure. The cyber-kinetic simulation and lab environment we are building now for the State of Israel will accelerate research and development of better security for society’s most critical control systems, both in Israel and worldwide.”
