Solutions · Early adopter release
OpsChain CI Fortify
Isolation and recovery planning for critical infrastructure
OpsChain CI Fortify helps critical infrastructure operators plan the temporary isolation and rapid rebuild of vital operational technology (OT) and supporting systems.
It provides a single system of record for asset inventories, vital system decisions, isolation points and isolation and recovery plans. The data model follows the five steps of the CI Fortify guidance. Approval policies, change tracking and signed audit evidence are built in, and the platform runs fully offline on your own infrastructure.
Supporting the CI Fortify guidance
The CI Fortify guidance from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and ASIO asks critical infrastructure operators to develop two capabilities:
- Isolate vital systems for around three months while continuing to deliver critical services.
- Rebuild those systems rapidly while critical services continue.
Both capabilities depend on an accurate asset inventory, a clear record of which systems support each critical service, and defined isolation points. OpsChain CI Fortify holds each of these as a linked record, so a critical service can be traced to the systems, connections and isolation points it depends on.
The guidance was first published in October 2025 and expanded in July 2026 with joint international advice. It is the basis for the capabilities in OpsChain CI Fortify.
CI Fortify is guidance, not a certification. ASD does not endorse any product.
The five steps in the CI Fortify guidance
The five steps below combine the original CI Fortify guidance, published by ASD and ASIO on 13 October 2025, with the detailed isolation planning advice published on 28 July 2026 by ASD, CISA, the FBI, NCSC-UK, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and NCSC-NZ.
Maintain an accurate asset inventory
Record the type, role, location and dependencies of every OT asset. Classify assets, networks and hosts by function, criticality and trust level, and keep the inventory up to date through the asset lifecycle.
Identify vital systems
Define the organisation’s critical services. Identify critical customers and set service delivery targets for them. Determine the minimum set of OT and supporting systems each service depends on, and record which systems are vital to keeping it running.
Identify and establish isolation points
Map every connection to each vital system and determine where it can be isolated from other networks. Link each isolation point to the systems and services it protects, put the required physical separation in place, and keep the connection register current through change management.
Develop and test a graduated isolation plan
Plan to disconnect vital systems from the internet, other networks, and corporate and third-party systems for around three months while critical services continue. Set isolation triggers and thresholds for risk and business impact. Prepare manual procedures for the automated processes that isolation will interrupt. Test all vital systems together on a regular schedule, and keep a secure offline hard copy of the plan.
Prepare for rapid rebuild
Document how each isolated vital system will be rebuilt while critical services continue. Define the minimum rebuild requirements for each critical function, hold spare equipment in advance, and maintain tested, known-good offline backups of firmware, configuration and processes.
How OpsChain supports each step
OpsChain CI Fortify adds dedicated records and planning tools for OT isolation and recovery to the platform’s existing governance capabilities.
Asset inventory
Available in OpsChain today
Classification metadata is stored against each asset, using the terminology your organisation and your regulators require. Every change to the managed environment goes through a governed workflow and produces an audit event, with retention and legal hold.
Change management keeps inventory records current. Maintenance windows and scheduled activities control patching.
In the CI Fortify early adopter release
An OT asset inventory and dependency map covering asset types, roles, locations, functions and criticality.
Ownership and lifecycle stage on every record, with last-updated and last-verified dates so out-of-date records can be found and reviewed.
Critical services and vital systems
Available in OpsChain today
Asset criticality controls what staff and AI operators are permitted to do. Approval policies, limits on operator authority and change windows are applied by asset classification.
Decisions are recorded through enforced approval workflows, separation of duties and a required number of distinct approvers, backed by a hash-chained audit ledger.
In the CI Fortify early adopter release
Critical services and the vital systems behind them, linked to the asset inventory and dependency map. Critical customers are recorded against each service with their service delivery targets and maximum tolerable outage. Vitality is recorded per service: a system can be vital to one service and not to another.
A full decision history, including who determined that a system was vital and when.
Isolation points
Available in OpsChain today
Vendor, peer and corporate connections managed through OpsChain are explicitly defined and audited. Transport providers use reference-based custody, and integrations cross controlled boundaries.
In the CI Fortify early adopter release
Isolation points documented on the network topology map and linked to the vital systems and critical services they protect.
A register of every connection to a vital system, recording the strength of each boundary from physical separation down to interim controls such as VLANs, and flagging the shared services, such as DNS, identity and time synchronisation, that isolation would cut off.
Graduated isolation plans
Available in OpsChain today
Isolation measures are applied and reversed through controlled change workflows with approval gates, change windows, additional authorisation checks and an emergency stop. Every action is recorded in a tamper-evident audit ledger.
Rehearsals and periodic reviews are scheduled, and missed activities are recorded as events for follow-up.
In the CI Fortify early adopter release
A governed isolation plan recording vital systems by service, isolation priorities, and thresholds for risk and business impact. Each plan is built as ordered stages with defined trigger criteria and a link to your incident response plan.
Documentation of the processes that cross isolation boundaries, identification of those that will be interrupted, and a manual fallback procedure for each.
Rebuild readiness
Available in OpsChain today
Rebuild procedures for the platform and the IT environment are managed through auditable workflows with approvals, outage windows and recorded evidence. The same capabilities support OpsChain’s own multi-site disaster recovery drills.
In the CI Fortify early adopter release
Rebuild readiness tracked for each vital system, including:
- Minimum rebuild requirements for each critical function.
- Backup components in priority order.
- Spare equipment and where it is held.
- The minimum operating state to restore first, and the procedures needed to reach it, including manual steps.
- Availability, currency and last test date of known-good offline backups of firmware, configuration and processes.
Known-good and tested are recorded as structured states rather than free text, so readiness can be reported across all vital systems at once.
Offline operation on your own infrastructure
Isolation plans and recovery records must remain available after external connections are removed.
OpsChain CI Fortify runs on a disconnected, on-premise UNIX host with no cloud dependency. The complete stack is delivered as a single self-contained binary, and application state is held in a portable persistent volume.
Each release ships with a build manifest and a software bill of materials (SBOM), so the binary can be verified before it is moved into an isolated network. Committed records are signed and hash-chained, so any tampering or corruption is detectable. Signing can use a hardware-backed key.
Throughout isolation, your team retains access to plans, can maintain records and can capture evidence.
Establish the records your plans depend on
Following the October 2025 guidance and the July 2026 update, operators are preparing their first graduated isolation plans and rebuild rehearsals.
The records those plans rely on must be maintained as systems and services change. Managing asset inventories, vital system decisions and isolation points within governed workflows gives operators a consistent basis for planning, testing and review.
Related regulatory requirements and deadlines
The CI Fortify guidance does not set a compliance deadline. Separate obligations apply under the SOCI framework.
The Security of Critical Infrastructure Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program) Rules 2026 commenced on 10 June 2026 for nine asset subclasses: broadcasting, domain name systems, electricity, energy market operator, freight infrastructure, freight services, gas, liquid fuel and water.
For responsible entities covered by the enhanced rules:
- 10 June 2027: new material-risk measures are due.
- 10 June 2028: all other measures are due, including critical-systems segregation to limit lateral movement.
See the CISC implementation factsheet ↗ for details. This information is provided as regulatory context and is not legal advice.
Where this sits in OpsChain
Governance
Read the guidance
The source material, published by the Australian Signals Directorate on cyber.gov.au.
Register your interest in the CI Fortify early adopter release
After you submit, we will arrange a briefing, early access to the release and a discussion of your critical services.