ITU-T Recommendations

Remote access tools (RATs) are widely used on control systems for monitoring, control and maintenance to reduce maintenance costs and minimize the response time in the event of a malfunction. RATs provide the ability to manipulate control systems remotely, but at the same time, an insecure configuration of RATs and vulnerabilities in RATs could significantly increase the attack surface of control systems. The most serious problem is an interface to access a control system from the external networks that could allow attackers access to the control system from the Internet. Recommendation ITU-T X.1333 describes an overall picture to employ RATs securely for monitoring, control and maintenance. In this Recommendation, threats to network configuration due to the use of RATs are identified and security guidelines are provided to adapt secure configuration and security measures for the use of RATs in Internet-connected control systems. Providing well-organized security controls on the use of RATs would be helpful for digital service providers operating control systems to reduce the attack surface and the threats from external networks. Moreover, it would be beneficial to align the security levels between developed and developing countries, since this is not a local problem, but a global problem.