Study highlights glaring shortcomings in OT cybersecurity

Massive third party access, poor visibility of industrial assets, lack of IT/OT synergy: report findings are alarming.

At the end of February 2024, the access security specialist Cyolo published a global study on industrial cybersecurity management, in partnership with Ponemon Institute. Titled Managing Access & Risk in the Increasingly Connected Operational Technology (OT) Environment, the study relies on responses from 1,056 industry professionals, in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

In particular, the report shows a poor visibility of industrial assets, with 73% of businesses interviewed lacking reliable inventory in the area. The study also highlights an IT/OT cooperation that remains too limited. Synergy in the area is nonetheless deemed a requirement in order to guarantee the security of increasingly connected industrial control systems.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents observe a “non-existent” or “limited” partnership between OT and IT teams. In one out of five businesses, teams only mention OT security in the event of an incident. More harmful yet, the report shows that a third of companies interviewed put the brakes on OT and IT collaboration, for fear, paradoxically, of cybersecurity incidents.

Moreover, three quarters of the companies let third parties access their OT environments, with an average of 77 third parties authorized. These outside connections, sometimes necessary for business activities, require a high degree of access security and proper management of access levels. And too many manufacturing companies prove to be weak in, or even ignorant of, these areas.

“Our world is increasingly interconnected, and the report’s findings emphasize the vital need for organizations to reassess and improve their strategies in order to guarantee secure access to OT environments,” concludes Larry Ponemon, chair and founder of Ponemon Institute.