Honeywell Survey Finds Gaps in Critical Infrastructure Visibility of Building Systems and IoT
Summary
Honeywell’s survey of 603 critical-infrastructure leaders found limited continuous monitoring and complete asset inventories for building automation and IoT. Better inventories were associated with faster recovery, though the survey does not establish causation.
Key points
- Only 16% of respondents continuously monitor more than three-quarters of their building automation systems; 20% do so for connected IoT devices.
- Just 21% reported a complete asset inventory, although 88% described their security programs as planned or design-led.
- Among respondents who had experienced a significant incident, 42% of those with substantial or comprehensive inventories recovered within six hours, compared with 25% of those with weaker inventories.
- The recovery difference is an association, not proof that inventories shorten outages; the weaker-inventory group was also much smaller.
- Organizations reporting clean compliance audits reported significant incidents at nearly the same rate as those with audit findings: 74% versus 73%.
- Only 31% said they were fully prepared; respondents cited legacy equipment and controllers using protocols without authentication or encryption as key challenges.
- Separately, the article reports that attackers remotely accessed internet-facing PLCs in water systems across at least seven U.S. states; federal investigators are examining possible links to Iran-backed hackers.
Article Details
- Publisher
- Help Net Security
- Report Period
- Survey conducted in May and June; year not specified
- Scope
- Honeywell Technologies survey of security, risk, and operations leaders at critical infrastructure organizations, alongside reported attacks on U.S. water systems
- Sample Size
- 603 survey respondents
- Key Statistics
- 16% of respondents continuously monitor more than three-quarters of their building automation systems; 20% do so for connected IoT devices.
- 21% of respondents report having a complete asset inventory.
- Among respondents with a significant incident, 42% of those with a comprehensive or substantial inventory were back up within six hours, compared with 25% of those with a moderate, limited, or no formal inventory; the report cautions that this association does not prove causation and the weaker-inventory group comprised 91 respondents.
- Organizations that passed every compliance audit reported significant incidents at a rate of 74%, compared with 73% among those with audit failures or findings.
- 31% of respondents say they are fully ready for incidents.
- Recommendations
- Maintain a complete inventory of connected assets, including building automation systems and IoT devices.
- Continuously monitor building automation systems and connected IoT devices.
- Test backups, document response procedures, and establish clear system ownership.