Groups

Groups are the fundamental building blocks to construct Policies. When you configure a Policy, you set each policy condition using Groups instead of individual entities. OT Security comes with some predefined Groups. You can also create your own user-defined Groups. To streamline the process of editing and creating Policies, Tenable recommends that you configure the Groups you need in advance.

Note: You can only set Policy parameters using Groups. If you want a Policy to apply to an individual entity you must configure a Group that includes only that entity.

View Groups

To view groups:

  1. In the left navigation bar, click Groups.

    The Groups section expands to display the group types.

Under Groups you can view all Groups configured in your system. Groups are divided into two categories:

  • Predefined Groups — These are pre-configured and you cannot edit these groups.

  • User-Defined Groups — You can create and edit these groups.

There are several different types of Groups, each of which is used for the configuration of various Policy types. Each Group type is shown on a separate screen under Groups. The Group types are:

  • Asset Groups — Assets are hardware entities in the network. Asset Groups are used as a Policy condition for a wide range of Policy types.

  • Network Segments — Network Segmentation is a method of creating groups of related network assets, assisting in the logical isolation of one group of assets from another.

  • Email Groups — Groups of emails that are notified when a Policy event occurs. Used for all Policy types.

  • Port Groups — Groups of Ports used by assets in the network. Used for Policies that identify open ports.

  • Protocol Groups — Groups of Protocols by which conversations are conducted between assets in the network. Used as a Policy condition for Network Events.

  • Schedule Groups — Schedule Groups are time ranges used to configure at what time the specified event must occur to fulfill the policy conditions.

  • Tag Groups — Tags are parameters in controllers that contain specific operational data. Tag Groups are used as a Policy condition for SCADA Events.

  • Rule Groups — Rule Groups comprises a group of related rules, identified by their Suricata Signature IDs (SIDs). These groups are used as a Policy condition for defining Intrusion Detection Policies.

The procedure for creating each type of Group is described in the following sections. In addition, you can View, Edit, Duplicate, or Delete an existing Group, see Actions on Groups.

Asset Groups

Assets are hardware entities in the network. Grouping similar assets together enables you to create policies that apply to all the assets in the group. For example, you can use an Asset Group Controller to create a policy that alerts for firmware changes to any controller. Asset Groups are used as a policy condition for a wide range of policy types. Asset Groups can be used to specify the Source asset, the Destination asset, or the Affected asset for various Policy types.

Network Segments

With Network Segmentation, you can create groups of related network assets, enabling you to logically isolate asset groups from one-another. OT Security automatically assigns each IP address that is associated with an asset in your network to a Network Segment. For assets with more than one IP address, each IP is associated with a Network Segment. Each auto-generated segment includes all Assets of a specific Category (Controller, OT Servers, Network Devices, and so on) that have IPs with the same class C network address (that is, the IPs have the same first 24 bits).

You can create user-defined Network Segments, and specify which assets are assigned to that segment. A column on the Inventory screen shows the Network Segment for each asset, making it easy to sort and filter your assets by Network Segment.

Email Groups

Emails Groups are groups of emails of relevant parties. Email Groups are used to specify recipients for Event notifications triggered by specific Policies. For example, grouping by role, department, and so on enables you to send the notifications for specific Policy Events to the relevant parties.

Port Groups

Port Groups are groups of ports used by assets in the network. Port Groups are used as a policy condition for defining Open Port Network Event Policies, which detect open ports in the network.

The Predefined tab shows the Port Groups that are predefined in the system. These Groups comprise ports expected to be Open on controllers from a specific vendor. For example, the Group Siemens PLC Open Ports includes: 20, 21, 80, 102, 443 and 502. This enables configuration of Policies that detect open ports that are not expected to be opened for controllers from that vendor. These Groups cannot be edited or deleted but they can be duplicated.

The User-defined tab includes custom Groups created by the user. You can edit, duplicate, or delete these Groups.

Protocol Groups

Protocol Groups are a set of protocols used for conversations between assets on a network. Protocol Groups are a Policy condition for Network Policies They also define what Protocols used between particular assets trigger a Policy.

OT Security comes with a set of predefined Protocol Groups which comprise related protocols. These Groups are available for use in Policies. You cannot edit or delete these Groups. Protocols can be grouped by which protocols are allowed by a specific vendor.

For example, Schneider allowed protocols include: TCP:80 (HTTP), TCP:21 (FTP), Modbus, Modbus_UMAS, Modbus_MODICON, TCP:44818 (CIP), UDP:69 (TFTP), UDP:161 (SNMP), UDP:162 (SNMP), UDP:44818, UDP:67-68 (DHCP). They can also be grouped by type of protocol, that is, Modbus, PROFINET, CIP and so on. You can also create your own user-defined Protocol Groups.

Schedule Group

A Schedule Group defines a time range or group of time ranges that has particular characteristics that make activities that happen during that time period noteworthy. For example, certain activities are expected to occur during work hours while other activities are expected to occur during down-time.

Tag Groups

Tags are parameters in controllers that contain specific operational data. Tag Groups are used as a Policy condition for SCADA Events policies. By grouping together tags that play similar roles, you can create Policies that detect suspicious changes to the specified parameter. For example, by grouping together Tags that control furnace temperature, you can create a Policy that detects temperature changes that can be harmful to the furnaces.

Rule Groups

Rule Groups comprise a group of related rules, identified by their Suricata Signature IDs (SIDs). These groups are used as a Policy condition for defining Intrusion Detection Policies.

OT Security provides a set of predefined groups of related vulnerabilities. In addition, you can select individual rules from our repository of vulnerabilities and create your own custom Rule Groups.

Actions on Groups

When you select a Group on any of the Group screens, you can do the following from the Actions menu on the top of the screen:

  • View — Shows details about the selected Group, such as which entities are included in the group and which Policies use the Group as a policy condition. See View Group Details

  • Edit — Edit details of the Group. See Edit a Group

  • Duplicate — Create a new Group with a similar configuration to the specified Group. See Duplicate a Group

  • Delete — Delete the Group from the system. See Delete a Group

    Note: You cannot edit or delete predefined Groups. Some predefined Groups also cannot be duplicated. You can also access the Actions menu by right-clicking a Group.