PCAP Analysis for OT Visibility

PCAPs (packet captures) are invaluable information sources for identifying assets and activities on a network. We’ve talked before about the role they can play for organizations starting their visibility journey.

If your organization hasn’t been leveraging PCAPs, possibly because of uncertainty about what the best approach would be, this article will serve as an introductory guide. We’ll explore how data from PCAP analysis can be useful and what to consider when assessing how to utilize it in your environment.

Enable OT Initiatives with the Power of PCAPs

The information stored in a packet capture can provide insights into network performance, communication patterns, protocol details, and more. PCAPs can also be used to identify devices on the network. That information, under further analysis, can uncover associated device metadata such as the IP address, MAC address, vendor, device type, serial number, or firmware on the device.

All of this information establishes and maintains visibility across your network, both at a specific point in time and also enabling observation of any ongoing changes. This data is often the first thing teams across the organization need, which is why gathering and analyzing it is such a cornerstone of a secure facility.

For example, asset identification data pulled from PCAP files can be used to build an asset inventory for any sites that may not have one. Alternately, the data can enrich asset inventories that already exist. These asset profiles can help meet compliance requirements by clearly identifying which assets may fall under regulatory scope.

Asset and network information can also be used to aid in vulnerability management (identifying machines or software versions with known vulnerabilities), patch management, identifying any out-of-date assets, and troubleshooting in the event of an unexpected occurrence during operations.

Implementing Effective PCAP Analysis in OT Networks

To make the most out of PCAP data, the right information must be captured. Equally important is locating the right tools to find, access, and utilize that data. PCAP analysis also requires filtering for the most important information, such as communications in critical networks, specific protocols, and other relevant data.

There are manual packet analysis tools such as Tshark/Wireshark, tcpdump, and the OT PCAP Analyzer. While these tools can give teams a valuable starting point in evaluating a snapshot of assets and their communication patterns on a network, it can also be a fairly time-consuming process.

And, since analysts and operators are unlikely to be constantly analyzing huge numbers of PCAPs, manual analysis is better suited to forensic analysis following an incident, or to specifically inspect anomalous behaviors.

On the other hand, tools that automatically process PCAPs provide faster, near-real-time insight into any changes in traffic, communications, or other asset information. If this PCAP data feeds directly into your existing security tools, dashboards, and other sinks, then this information becomes easily accessible across the organization.

Operators, analysts, and other teams may not have the time or capacity to learn an entirely separate tool, especially if it’s complicated or overly restrictive. But integrating network and asset data from PCAPs into your current tools and workflows ensures all teams can access the data they need to make informed decisions.

Establish Visibility, Monitor Activity, and Empower Your Teams

Whether you’re just getting started on your visibility journey or need to increase the efficiency of existing processes, EmberOT’s solution can help. This is a low-hardware, software-based sensor that can be deployed in even the most remote, resource-constrained environments. We’re dedicated to eliminating blind spots across your OT environment. That’s why we built a tool that can easily identify and monitor assets, without costly hardware or a steep learning curve.

If you want to see EmberOT in action or have any questions, feel free to reach out to a member of our team.