If you’ve worked in IT security, you probably know the basics: patch management, endpoint protection, firewalls, detection systems. The rules are clear, and the playbook is well established. But step into an OT (Operational Technology) environment, and suddenly those rules don’t apply in the same way. You’re not looking at laptops and servers anymore, you’re dealing with industrial control systems, conveyor belts, turbines, and sensors that are often older than some of the people running them. And here’s the thing: the stakes are different too. In IT, the biggest worry might be a data breach. In OT, a mistake can stop production, cause massive financial losses, or even put lives at risk.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen these same patterns repeat across manufacturing, logistics, and energy environments. Let’s break down why OT really does need its own security playbook.
Uptime comes first
In IT, downtime is an inconvenience. In OT, downtime can be a disaster. You can’t just reboot a production line in the middle of the day because a patch needs installing. Every minute offline costs money, and in some sectors, it impacts public safety.
That’s why vulnerability management looks different here. It’s less about “scan and patch quickly” and more about “assess carefully, schedule strategically, and never interrupt operations without a plan.”
Seeing what’s really there is harder than you think
Most OT environments have grown organically over decades. Some equipment is new, some is old, and some was never meant to be connected to a network at all. Documentation doesn’t always keep up, so you end up with “mystery boxes” on the network – devices no one remembers installing, running firmware no one has touched in years.
The challenge is obvious: you can’t protect what you don’t even know exists. The first steps in any OT security effort aren’t patching or hardening. It’s discovery and isolation.
IT and OT are now connected (for better and worse)
A decade ago, OT and IT lived in separate worlds. That’s no longer the case. Modern factories, utilities, and logistics systems rely on IT-OT integration for monitoring, analytics, and efficiency.
But that convenience comes with risk. A phishing email on the IT side can turn into an entry point for attackers to reach OT systems. A misconfigured firewall might leave a door wide open. What starts as an “IT problem” can suddenly threaten physical operations.
Priorities are not the same
In IT, the focus is often confidentiality: keep the data safe. In OT, the focus is availability and safety: keep the systems running, and keep people safe. That difference completely changes how risk is measured. A “critical” IT vulnerability might not matter much if fixing it requires shutting down a line for 48 hours. Conversely, a “low” vulnerability might be top priority if it puts uptime or safety at risk.
This is also why OT security reports need to speak the language of operations. It’s not enough to say “this system is vulnerable.” You have to explain what that means in terms of downtime, reliability, or safety.
Why this matters
OT systems control the infrastructure that keeps society running—power, water, transport, manufacturing. Securing them is about more than compliance or best practices. It’s about resilience, continuity, and in some cases, public safety.
And while IT security has decades of mature practices and tools, OT is still finding its way. It needs its own methods, its own mindset, and yes, its own playbook.
👉 Curious to see how this could look in practice? Start by asking the simplest question: do we actually know what’s running in our OT environment right now? The answer to that question is often more surprising than people expect.
Want to know how your OT environment holds up? Let’s have a chat
