Effective Mitigation for Vulnerable Process Control Terminal

A security audit has revealed that a process control terminal is vulnerable to malicious users installing and executing software on the system.

The terminal is beyond end-of-life support and cannot be upgraded, so it is placed on a protected network segment.

Which of the following would be MOST effective to implement to further mitigate the reported vulnerability?

A.

DNS sinkholing

B.

DLP rules on the terminal

C.

An IP blacklist

D.

Application whitelisting.

D.

The most effective solution to mitigate the reported vulnerability in the process control terminal would be to implement application whitelisting.

Application whitelisting is a security approach that permits only approved applications to run on a system while denying unauthorized applications from executing. It works by creating a list of approved applications, such as software that is required for the terminal's operation, and blocking any other unapproved software from running. This approach is highly effective in preventing malicious users from installing and executing software on the system.

DNS sinkholing is a technique that blocks access to malicious websites by redirecting traffic to a non-existent or fake site. While it can be effective against some types of cyberattacks, it does not directly address the vulnerability in the process control terminal.

DLP (Data Loss Prevention) rules on the terminal are designed to prevent the unauthorized transfer of sensitive data, but they do not directly address the vulnerability in the terminal.

An IP blacklist is a list of known malicious IP addresses that are blocked by a firewall or other security device. While this approach can be effective in preventing known threats, it does not address the specific vulnerability of the process control terminal.

In summary, application whitelisting is the most effective solution to mitigate the reported vulnerability in the process control terminal.