Operational Technology (OT) Cybersecurity Interface
Project overview
In recent years, the perception of UX design for cybersecurity experts has evolved. The traditional view assumed they wanted full visibility into their entire environment. However, the current approach prioritizes displaying only the most important and actionable information, aligning with their need for efficiency and focus.
This project centers on redesigning an intuitive interface for an OT cybersecurity system, emphasizing critical assets and workflows. It empowers security teams to efficiently monitor and manage threats in real time.
Through user research and iterative testing, the design ensures usability for both cybersecurity experts and OT operators. The result is a system that bridges the gap between usability and robust security management in industrial environments.
Define the problem
Information Overload: Interfaces often present excessive, non-prioritized data, making it difficult for users to focus on actionable insights.
High Alert Fatigue: Users are bombarded with frequent alerts, many of which are false positives, making it harder to identify critical threats.
Inefficient Workflows: Existing systems often lack streamlined workflows for managing incidents, resulting in slow responses and operational inefficiencies.
Poor Visualization of OT-Specific Data: Critical OT-specific metrics and relationships, such as asset dependencies and operational statuses, are often inadequately represented.
Limited Contextual Awareness: Current designs fail to provide adequate context for alerts, leaving users to manually piece together information, which slows down decision-making.
Collaboration Challenges: OT cybersecurity requires coordination between IT experts and OT operators, but most systems don’t support easy communication or shared workflows.
Over-Complication for Beginners: Advanced interfaces can overwhelm beginners, while overly simplified designs risk alienating advanced users, failing to balance the needs of diverse user roles.
Research & Insights
Research:
Stakeholder Interviews: Conducted interviews with OT operators, cybersecurity experts, and IT managers to understand workflows, challenges, and goals.
Contextual Inquiry: Observed users interacting with existing OT systems in their natural work environments to identify pain points and areas for improvement.
Competitive Analysis: Analyzed interfaces of similar cybersecurity solutions to identify best practices and gaps.
User Personas: Developed personas to capture the diverse needs of OT and IT professionals interacting with the system.
Usability Testing: Iteratively tested prototypes with end-users to refine functionality and ensure ease of use.
Insights:
Alert Fatigue: An overwhelming number of low-priority alerts diminishes the ability to focus on critical issues, highlighting the need for effective alert prioritization.
Collaborative Gaps: IT and OT professionals often have differing expertise, necessitating a shared interface that bridges knowledge gaps while catering to both user types.
Critical Time Sensitivity: OT environments are highly sensitive to downtime, emphasizing the need for rapid and error-free incident response tools.
Simplicity and Clarity: Users preferred minimalistic designs with clear navigation and actionable insights over densely packed interfaces.
These insights shaped the design decisions, ensuring the interface addresses real-world needs while enhancing usability and efficiency.
Tailored Experiences for Advanced Users and Beginners
My design addresses the diverse expertise levels of its users by offering distinct experiences for advanced users and beginners
Beginner-Friendly Features
Guided Workflows: Step-by-step guides simplify complex tasks, making the system accessible for new or less experienced users.
Contextual Help: Tooltips and in-app tutorials provide explanations and examples tailored to novice needs without overwhelming them.
Simplified Views: Default settings focus on core functionality, presenting only essential information to avoid confusion.
Advanced User Capabilities
Customizable Dashboards: Advanced users can configure dashboards to display detailed metrics, logs, and advanced analytics specific to their needs.
Expert Tools: Features like scripting interfaces, raw data exports, and detailed protocol inspection cater to users with in-depth technical knowledge.
Quick Access Shortcuts: Power users benefit from keyboard shortcuts and streamlined navigation options for faster task execution.
By offering differentiated experiences, the design ensures accessibility and productivity for beginners while empowering advanced users to perform complex tasks efficiently, creating a versatile and inclusive system.
How my design helps meet the business and efficiency goals
Improved Threat Visibility
The design incorporates intuitive dashboards that provide a real-time overview of the OT environment, including device statuses, network health, and alerts. This enhances situational awareness, enabling faster identification and resolution of potential threats.
Streamlined Incident Response
A prioritized alert system reduces cognitive overload by categorizing and ranking alerts based on criticality. This ensures that teams focus on high-risk issues first, improving response times and reducing the likelihood of escalation.
Enhanced Collaboration
The interface bridges the gap between OT operators and IT cybersecurity experts by offering role-specific views and terminology familiar to each group. This fosters better teamwork, reduces miscommunication, and ensures smoother incident management.
Reduced Downtime and Risk
Tools for rapid configuration and validation help operators quickly implement security measures without interrupting critical operations. This minimizes downtime while maintaining robust security.
Scalability and Future Readiness
The modular design allows for easy integration with emerging technologies and protocols, ensuring the system remains relevant as the organization grows and adapts to new challenges.
Business ROI
By improving efficiency, reducing errors, and protecting critical infrastructure, the design directly contributes to cost savings and risk mitigation. Additionally, it enhances employee satisfaction by simplifying complex tasks, reducing training time, and fostering confidence in the system.
This user-centered design aligns with the organization’s goals to safeguard operations, optimize team performance, and maintain business continuity in OT environments.
Information Prioritization for Clarity and Focus
The design emphasizes clarity by presenting only the most critical details upfront, ensuring users can quickly grasp essential information without distraction. Less critical or secondary details are hidden by default and revealed on hover, creating a clean and minimalistic interface.
This approach:
Reduces Cognitive Load: Users are not overwhelmed by excessive data, making it easier to focus on actionable insights.
Enhances Usability: The hover-to-reveal interaction ensures additional details are accessible when needed without cluttering the interface.
Supports Decision-Making: By surfacing the most important information, users can make timely decisions while still having access to deeper context when required.
This design choice balances simplicity and functionality, making it easier for users to consume and act on information effectively.