Operational Technology (OT) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) run physical processes — power grids, factories, water treatment. Securing them is a growing, critical specialism with very different rules to IT.
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OT & ICS Security
Protecting the systems that run physical processes.
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IT vs OT
Safety first.
IT often prioritises confidentiality; OT prioritises safety and availability — an outage can be physically dangerous. This reverses many normal IT priorities.
Check your understanding
1. What does OT security prioritise most?
2. What does the Purdue model provide?
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Why OT is different
- Safety and availability first — in IT, confidentiality often leads; in OT, an outage can be physically dangerous, so availability and safety dominate.
- Legacy & fragile — many systems are decades old, can't be patched easily and use insecure protocols.
- SCADA / PLCs — the controllers that run physical equipment.
- The Purdue model — a layered reference architecture that segments IT from OT (a key defence).
Convergence of IT and OT expands the attack surface (e.g. ransomware hitting production). Controls: strong segmentation, monitoring and strict change control — never disrupt a live process.