Adversaries may leverage external remote services as a point of initial access into your network. These services allow users to connect to internal network resources from external locations. Examples are VPNs, Citrix, and other access mechanisms. Remote service gateways often manage connections and credential authentication for these services. (Citation: Daniel Oakley, Travis Smith, Tripwire) External remote services allow administration of a control system from outside the system. Often, vendors and internal engineering groups have access to external remote services to control system networks via the corporate network. In some cases, this access is enabled directly from the internet. While remote access enables ease of maintenance when a control system is in a remote area, compromise of remote access solutions is a liability. The adversary may use these services to gain access to and execute attacks against a control system network. Access to valid accounts is often a requirement. As they look for an entry point into the control system network, adversaries may begin searching for existing point-to-point VPN implementations at trusted third party networks or through remote support employee connections where split tunneling is enabled. (Citation: Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center; SANS Industrial Control Systems March 2016)

Linked Issues

Issuelinks
Linktype Issue
is related to Techniques
is related to Firewall
is related to Routers
is related to Data Gateway
is related to Application Server
is related to Distributed Control System (DCS) Controller
is related to Virtual Private Network (VPN) Server
is related to Switch
is related to Jump Host
is related to Data Historian
is blocked by Network Segmentation
is blocked by Account Use Policies
is blocked by Limit Access to Resource Over Network
is blocked by Detection of External Remote Services
is blocked by Password Policies
is blocked by User Account Management
is blocked by Disable or Remove Feature or Program
is blocked by Multi-factor Authentication
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