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OT principles
ASD Essentials

Essentials for OT

PRO-01 Secure system lifecycle

two actionsAlso in ASD Essentials for enterprise IT

Build security in from a device's start to the end of its life. Set up new network devices so traffic recording can be switched on without reconfiguring them. Sanitise and dispose of hardware, including devices sent for repair, through trusted onsite or in-country services.

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

The principle

Systems (infrastructure, operating systems and applications) are planned, designed, developed, tested, deployed, maintained and decommissioned according to their business criticality ratings and security and resilience requirements using Secure by Design and Secure by Default principles and practices.

ASD, Information Security Manual (ISM), Principle PRO-01

The two actions

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 2

    Design, size and configure new network devices so that network traffic capture can be enabled without a subsequent configuration change.

    In plain English: Design, size and set up new network devices so traffic recording can be switched on without changing their configuration.

    Domains
    Critical processes and services
    Boundary services
    Identity services
    Privileged environments

  2. Action 2 of 2

    Sanitise and securely dispose of hardware, including devices returned to a supplier for maintenance, using trusted onsite or domestic disposal services.

    In plain English: Sanitise (securely wipe) hardware and dispose of it securely, including devices sent back to a supplier for maintenance. Use trusted onsite or in-country disposal services.

    Domains
    Critical processes and services
    Boundary services
    Identity services
    Privileged environments
    Business systems
    MITRE ATT&CK
    Theft of operational information

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.

MITRE ATT&CK® technique names and IDs: © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. See MITRE's ATT&CK terms of use.

Everything else on this page is written by Control Stack.