A cyber risk review identified critical vulnerabilities in how third-party vendors remotely accessed offshore and onshore Operational Technology (OT) systems supporting production critical operations.
Existing remote access pathways relied on traditional RDP and VPN connectivity with limited monitoring, insufficient segmentation, and minimal auditability increasing operational and cybersecurity exposure across the environment.
Sentinel ICCS Ltd was engaged to design and implement a secure Privileged Remote Access solution aligned with Zero Trust principles and IEC 62443 cybersecurity standards while maintaining uninterrupted operational availability.
Oil & Gas
Offshore Operation
OT Cybersecurity
IEC 62443
01
Legacy Remote Access Exposure
Vendor access relied on conventional VPN and RDP sessions with static credentials and limited session visibility, Creating elevated cybersecurity risk across critical OT systems.
02
Limited Auditability &
Oversight
Remote sessions lacked centralised monitoring, logging, and activity recording capabilities, reducing visibility into vendor interactions within operational environments.
03
Offshore Operational
Constraints
The offshore production environment required implementation with minima operational disruption while maintaining continuous system availabillity and support accessibility.
04
Segmentation &
Security Gaps
Existing remote access pathways increased exposure between enterprise and operational technology zones, introducing unnecessary attack surface risks.
Sentinel ICCS Ltd designed and implemented a defence-in-depth Privileged Remote Access architecture aligned with Zero Trust principles and IEC 62443 cybersecurity requirements. The solution introduced a centralised PRA gateway with secure jump-server infrastructure to tightly control vendor access into operational technology environments.
Multi-factor authentication, role-based permissions, session monitoring, and controlled approval workflows were integrated to improve visibility, accountability, and operational security across offshore and onshore systems.
To minimise operational risk, segmented OT access pathways were established alongside continuous audit logging and activity recording ensuring secure remote support without compromising operational continuity.
The implementation eliminated direct RDP exposure into critical operational systems and significantly reduced credential related cybersecurity risks.
Sentinel ICCS Ltd established secure and fully auditable vendor access workflows, improving operational visibility, monitoring capability, and governance across the OT environment.
The upgraded architecture strengthened OT segmentation and reinforced defence-in-depth security controls while maintaining uninterrupted offshore operations throughout deployment.
The project also improved alignment with IEC 62443 cybersecurity principles and enabled a secure long-term remote support framework for future operational resilience.
The completed implementation significantly strengthened the client’s operational cybersecurity posture while maintaining the reliability and accessibility required for offshore production support environments.
By combining operational engineering awareness with cybersecurity-focused architecture design, Sentinel ICCS Ltd delivered a resilient and scalable remote access framework aligned with modern industrial cybersecurity expectations.
