When Expertise is Non-Negotiable: Solving Your Toughest OT Challenges with Aesir

Protecting Your Industrial Systems with Aesir

The Challenge: A New Cyber Threat

The machines that run our world—like power grids, factories, and pipelines—are now connected to the internet. While this brings benefits, it also makes them vulnerable to serious cyberattacks.

Early warnings of this danger have grown into major threats. A cyberattack today can do more than just steal data; it can shut down power to cities or cause industrial accidents that endanger people and the environment.

Why Old Security Methods Fail

Standard IT security, the kind used for office computers, doesn’t work for these industrial systems. IT security focuses on protecting data. But in the industrial world, the top priorities are keeping systems running safely and without interruption. You can’t just turn off a power plant to install an update.

A New Solution for a New Problem

This situation requires a new approach to cybersecurity designed specifically for industrial technology. You need experts who understand both computers and industrial machinery.

This is what Insane Cyber’s Aesir team provides: expert, specialized services to solve the toughest security challenges in the industrial world.

IT vs. OT Security – The Fundamental Differences 

The Art of OT Defense

The Aesir team’s effectiveness stems from a deeply ingrained philosophy of proactive, OT-native defense. Their methodologies are not a checklist of compliance items but a dynamic, threat-informed approach to building genuine resilience. 

Crown Jewel Analysis (CJA): The Foundation of a Defensible Strategy 

Before a single packet is analyzed, the Aesir process begins with the most critical question: What can we absolutely not afford to lose? Their Crown Jewel Analysis (CJA) is a foundational service that provides the strategic clarity upon which all other defenses are built. This is not a simple asset inventory; it is a sophisticated, consequence-driven process, informed by leading frameworks, that maps the organization’s core mission to its physical assets. 

The process is multi-layered and rigorous: 

1. Identify Mission Objectives: What is the fundamental purpose of this facility? (e.g., “Generate 500MW of power for the state grid.”) 
2. Map Operational Tasks: What processes are required to achieve this mission? (e.g., “Boil water, create steam, turn turbine.”) 
3. Pinpoint System Functions: What systems enable these processes? (e.g., Boiler Control System, Turbine Governor, SCADA System.) 
4. Isolate Critical Assets & Crown Jewels: What specific controllers, workstations, or servers are essential for these systems to function? These are the crown jewels. 

This “mission-first” approach is fundamentally superior to a traditional asset-first inventory. It ensures that security resources are laser-focused on protecting the processes that generate revenue and ensure safety, rather than being diluted across less critical systems. 

OT Penetration Testing: A Safe and Methodical Assault 

The idea of “penetration testing” in an OT environment can be terrifying for any asset owner. The Aesir team understands this fear and has built their methodology around a core principle: safety first. They meticulously avoid the reckless “scan everything” approach common in IT, which can easily crash fragile legacy controllers. 

Their process is a model of caution and precision: 

1. Crown Jewel Focus: The CJA dictates the targets. The goal is not to find every possible vulnerability but to test the defenses around the most critical assets. 
2. Target & Tactic Selection: Based on the environment, the team selects specific, low-impact tactics that mimic real-world adversaries without introducing unnecessary risk. 
3. Phased Approach: The assessment always begins passively, listening to network traffic and gathering intelligence without transmitting a single active packet. Only after this phase is complete does the team move to carefully controlled and pre-approved active testing. 
4. Controlled Lab Simulation: Whenever feasible, the team will replicate a portion of the production environment in a controlled lab. This allows them to safely simulate the full impact of an attack, from initial access to physical consequence, providing invaluable insights without risking operational integrity. 

Threat Hunting & Detection Engineering: The Technical “How” 

When it comes to threat hunting in operational technology, Aesir doesn’t follow the manual—they rewrite it. The team operates with a quiet precision, transforming widely available tools into purpose-built instruments of detection. The “how” behind their work isn’t something you’ll find in vendor playbooks—and that’s by design.

At the core are frameworks like Zeek and Suricata. But in Aesir’s hands, these aren’t just tools—they’re extensions of the team’s deep operational understanding. Zeek is reshaped to recognize the nuance in industrial protocols. Suricata is refined with handcrafted rule sets that speak the language of specific environments, catching adversary behavior others miss. And layered into this approach are YARA rules, deployed not just for malware classification—but as surgical signatures that can flag stealthy, persistent threats embedded deep within OT infrastructure.

When existing tools fall short, the team builds their own—quietly publishing utilities like drovorub-hunt to track down adversaries that most defenders haven’t even seen coming. It’s not about noise. It’s about signal.

Each engagement is led by a tight-knit pod—a fusion of hunters, reverse engineers, protocol analysts, and forensic specialists. No filler, no fluff. Just focused technical depth, shaped by operational reality.

Proof in Practice – The Aesir Impact 

The efficacy of these methodologies is not theoretical. It is proven in the field. 

A compelling example is the Aesir team’s engagement with a major North American utility provider to secure their new, highly complex Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS). The utility needed to go far beyond basic compliance and achieve true resilience. The Aesir team was brought in to think like an adversary. 

• The Solution: The engagement was a multi-faceted deep dive, involving adversary emulation exercises, in-depth data flow cartography to map every connection, and comprehensive threat modeling of the entire system. 

• The Outcome: The results were transformative, extending far beyond a simple vulnerability report. 

• Illuminated Blind Spots: The team uncovered entire network segments and data flows previously unknown to the utility’s security and operations teams. 

• Actionable Roadmap: The utility received a concrete, prioritized roadmap for remediation, focusing on the most critical risks to the ADMS. 

• Unexpected Operational Wins: The deep visibility provided by the assessment had a ripple effect. The utility reported faster incident response times, improved collaboration between security and operations teams, and even a measurable improvement in grid reliability metrics like SAIDI and SAIFI. 

This case study perfectly illustrates the Aesir value proposition: deep security expertise not only reduces risk but can also enhance operational efficiency. 

This work also provides the perfect baseline to achieve long-term security. The findings from an Aesir assessment can be operationalized for continuous monitoring, helping organizations meet stringent standards like NERC CIP-015-1. The data and insights gained can feed directly into a sustained security program, bridging the gap between a one-time assessment and genuine, continuous improvement. 

Aesir Professional Services Portfolio 

Conclusion: In the Toughest Arenas, Expertise is the Only True Defense 

The landscape of Operational Technology is complex, unforgiving, and critically important. Securing it effectively requires more than just tools or checklists; it requires a deep, intuitive understanding of the environment, the threats, and the operational imperatives. It requires an expert-driven approach. 

The Insane Cyber Aesir Professional Services team embodies this approach. They are defined by an elite pedigree forged in the nation’s highest levels of cyber defense, a set of OT-native methodologies that prioritize safety and mission-criticality, a proven track record of delivering tangible results, and a clear vision for the future. 

For organizations operating in the toughest industrial arenas, where the cost of failure is measured not just in dollars but in downtime, public safety, and national security, the choice of a security partner is paramount. In these environments, when the challenges are immense and the consequences are real, expertise is the only variable that is truly non-negotiable. 

Download the Aesir Professional Services Guide