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OT principles
ASD Essentials

Essentials for OT

GOV-07 Continuous cyber security improvement

one actionNot in enterprise IT

Keep improving how well you can isolate OT and keep it running. Practise isolation regularly from start to finish. Cover the decision, running isolated for the set period, hunting for attackers before reconnecting, and moving staff when communications are degraded.

Reviewed 18 October 2026 · Current to ASD's Essentials for OT, published 15 October 2026

The principle

Security risk management and associated cyber security activities are continually measured and reviewed using cyber threat intelligence and assurance activities, including exercises informed by real-world cyber threats, to identify, prioritise and incorporate improvements in governance arrangements, shared responsibilities and the effectiveness of security controls.

ASD, Information Security Manual (ISM), Principle GOV-07

The action

ASD's actions are quoted as published in Essentials for OT. ASD has not given them IDs, so they are numbered by position.

  1. Action 1 of 1

    Conduct regular exercises of isolation and sustained isolated operation, covering isolation decision-making, threat hunting before reconnection, safe removal of isolation, sustained operation for the defined isolation period, artefact capture, and staff movement in a degraded communications environment.

    In plain English: Regularly practise isolation and running isolated for the set period. Cover the decision, hunting threats before reconnecting, safely ending isolation, saving evidence and moving staff during degraded communications.

    Domains
    Governance and culture

See all 34 principles in Essentials for OT, or read our OT guide.

Sources

The ASD publications this page quotes.

Quoted ASD material © Commonwealth of Australia 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Everything else on this page is written by Control Stack.