US 12,432,218 B1
Zero-trust cybersecurity enforcement in operational technology systems
Roman Arutyunov, San Jose, CA (US); Vishal Gupta, Newark, CA (US); Ganesh Jampani, Gilroy, CA (US); and Bao Ngo, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Xage Security, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by Xage Security, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 17, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/301,387.
Int. Cl. H04L 9/40 (2022.01); H04L 41/22 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 63/105 (2013.01) [H04L 63/0838 (2013.01); H04L 63/102 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
installing a control program in each functional element of a protected distributed computer system that is organized in a plurality of logical layers or zones, one or more of the logical layers or zones hosting one or more sensitive data resources associated with an operational technology or information technology;
receiving a first request from a user computer to access a first sensitive data resource of a first layer or zone from among the plurality of logical layers or zones;
assessing a policy associated with the first sensitive data resource, the policy being based on a zero-trust model;
acquiring identity information for a user account specified in the first request;
performing a multi-layer multi-factor authentication of the user account using the identity information of the user account and a multi-layer cybersecurity model;
in response to authenticating the identity information, obtaining sensitive access data corresponding to the identity information and determining a sensitive resource access value using a zero trust approach which is applied to authenticate the user account using the sensitive access data and the zero trust model;
in response to determining the sensitive resource access value is above a predetermined threshold, authenticating the user account;
in response to receiving one or more second requests to access a second sensitive data resource of any of the plurality of logical layers or zones, repeating the receiving, the assessing, the acquiring, the performing, the obtaining, the determining, and the authentication.