A Guide to Protecting Critical Infrastructure with a Control Blueprint

Share

About this guide

This guide is written for security, infrastructure and risk leaders who need to keep operational systems available, controlled and free of unnecessary exposure. It explains one Control Blueprint, CP-05, in plain terms: the failure it addresses, the Control Modules it uses, how those modules work together, and how a deployment is scoped.

Control by Firevault is a suite of nine purpose-built modules: a set of tools and techniques that give you physical control over the paths into and across your estate. A Control Blueprint is a proven combination of those modules assembled for a specific outcome. This guide covers one blueprint. The Control overview covers the nine modules and the full set of blueprints.

The problem this blueprint addresses

Operational technology cannot be patched, rebooted or taken offline on the same terms as corporate IT, yet it still needs supervisory access, vendor maintenance and data extraction. The result is usually a permanent connection justified by an occasional need.

CP-05 at a glance

• Lead layer FIRE+VAULT
• Primary modules Firebreak, Isolate, Relay, Execute
• Supporting modules Transfer, Archive, Lock
• Typical sectors Energy, critical infrastructure, defence and manufacturing

The primary modules

These modules do the work the blueprint is named for.

• Firebreak physically breaks the connection path, so a route only exists when it is deliberately opened.
• Isolate separates an environment at hardware level, so a compromised zone cannot reach a clean one.
• Relay opens a controlled, time-bound crossing and closes it again on schedule.
• Execute fires the control action on signal, without waiting for a change window.

The supporting modules

These modules round out the pattern and are usually added as the deployment matures.

• Transfer governs what data is allowed to move, in which direction, and when.
• Archive preserves logs, records and evidence beyond the reach of the live estate.
• Lock holds access to the systems that matter behind identity and condition controls.

What good looks like

• Connectivity to operational zones is closed between maintenance windows.
• Supervisory and vendor access opens on approval and closes on schedule.
• Data leaves the operational zone under controlled transfer only.
• Availability is never traded for convenience.

How the blueprint is deployed

Control Modules are a suite of tools and techniques deployed within your own estate and applied to the paths they govern: at a boundary, inside a zone, or at a third-party edge. Authorisation and evidence remain local, so losing connectivity to Firevault never opens a path.

Most deployments start with a single boundary or zone, prove the control behaviour, then extend the same blueprint across the estate. Modules can be customer-operated or co-managed.

How to scope it

Scoping starts with the paths, not the product. A short discovery exercise identifies the boundaries that matter, who needs to cross them, how often, and what evidence is required. That produces the module count and placement, which in turn produces the price. Blueprints are combined where an estate has more than one problem to solve.

Next steps

• Read the full blueprint detail: CP-05 blueprint
• See all nine modules and the other blueprints: Control by Firevault
• Talk it through with our team: contact Firevault

How Firevault would handle this

Access decided by you, not assumed by the network

Control by Firevault removes standing pathways and replaces them with connection windows you approve, so stolen credentials and compromised suppliers have nothing standing to abuse.