Operational Technology Assurance Partnership: Smart Controller Security Within National Security Systems

This NSA technical report outlines cybersecurity requirements for smart controllers within National Security Systems (NSS) to safeguard mission-critical operational technology (OT). The study identifies key threats—such as buffer overflows, hardcoded credentials, and insecure communications—and addresses gaps between existing ISA 62443-4-2 standards and NIST’s moderate-moderate-moderate (M-M-M) countermeasure baseline. NSA recommends six new security requirements to protect against wireless threats, unauthorized access, and data breaches. The findings support a formalized cybersecurity conformance testing process that can also benefit broader critical infrastructure sectors.