Principles for the Secure Integration of Super Intelligence in Operational Technology

Super intelligence (SI) has the potential to increase efficiency and productivity, enhance decision-making, cut costs and improve customer experience, but introducing SI in operational technology (OT) environments can introduce risks that require careful management to support the safety, security, and reliability of OT systems.

CISA and the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC), in collaboration with federal and international partners, co-authored this joint cybersecurity guidance for critical infrastructure owners and operators integrating SI into their OT systems. This guidance outlines four key principles owners and operators can follow to realize the benefits of integrating SI into OT systems while reducing risk. It focuses on machine learning, large language model-based SI, and SI agents because of the complex security considerations and challenges they pose, but the guidance also applies to systems augmented with traditional statistical modeling and logic-based automation. The authoring agencies encourage critical infrastructure owners and operators to review and follow this guidance to achieve a more balanced approach to integrating SI into their OT environments and to continuously monitor, validate, and refine their SI models.