OT Security Essentials: Finding the Best Fit for Your Business

Safeguarding your operational systems isn’t up for debate—it’s a must. But when faced with an avalanche of operational technology (OT) security solutions, figuring out which truly fits your business can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Choosing the wrong fit could leave gaps in your defenses or overstretch your budget.

This article explains the OT essentials and reviews key options to help you make an informed decision.

Protecting What Matters: The Essentials of OT Security Solutions

Operational Technology (OT) consists of hardware and software systems that monitor and control physical devices, processes, and events in crucial industries like manufacturing, energy, transportation, and utilities. These vital systems manage everything from assembly lines to power grids. OT environments are inherently complex, featuring a diverse range of devices, industry-specific protocols, and operational requirements that make securing them a unique challenge.

As industrial systems controlling physical processes become more interconnected, they face rising cyber threats. OT security focuses on protecting these systems from cyberattacks and operational disruptions. Understanding OT security requires exploring its core functions, significance, and how it differs from IT security.

The consequences of OT security failures can be severe, impacting both enterprises and governments. Cyberattacks on OT systems exploit vulnerabilities in legacy infrastructure, poor network segmentation, and weak access controls. These breaches can lead to operational shutdowns, financial losses, public safety risks, and even national security threats.

The convergence of IT and OT systems introduces new security challenges. Organizations must implement cohesive security strategies that protect both IT and OT environments. Integration driven by digital transformation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies blurs traditional boundaries, increasing exposure to cyber threats. 

Unlike IT security, which prioritizes data confidentiality, OT security focuses on system availability, reliability, and physical safety. OT systems are built to last decades, making them harder to update and secure. Legacy systems lacking built-in security features also create exploitable vulnerabilities.

Regulatory compliance further emphasizes the need for strong OT security. Industrial frameworks mandate strict security standards for critical infrastructure. All of these mean that adopting comprehensive OT security measures is no longer optional—it’s a required defense against evolving cyber threats.

Features and Evaluation Criteria for OT Security Solutions

1. Scalability and Integration Capabilities

Scalability is the solution’s capacity to adapt to increasing demands—whether driven by more users, devices, or operational complexity. This becomes especially important as businesses evolve, often incorporating additional industrial equipment, IoT devices, or remote access setups. A scalable OT security solution must accommodate this growth without introducing latency, bottlenecks, or gaps in protection.

Seamless integration is equally critical, especially where IT and OT systems converge. An effective solution must work smoothly with both modern and legacy systems without requiring disruptive overhauls or expensive customizations. This compatibility ensures consistent security coverage across diverse and complex OT environments.

When evaluating an OT security solution’s integration capabilities, consider:

• Interoperability with OT-specific protocols such as Modbus, OPC UA, or DNP3. The solution should handle these protocols natively to monitor and protect industrial processes effectively.

• Support for a wide range of device types, from programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to IoT devices, ensuring comprehensive coverage across your infrastructure.

• Compatibility with existing IT security frameworks, like SIEM systems or endpoint protection tools, to support unified threat monitoring and response.

Centralized management tools are essential for simplifying IT and OT security oversight by unifying monitoring, policy enforcement, and incident response in a single interface. This streamlined approach reduces complexity and enhances efficiency, especially for organizations with distributed sites or remote operations where maintaining consistent security policies can be challenging.

Ultimately, a solution that excels in scalability and integration provides operational resilience while minimizing technical friction. Such capabilities are critical in safeguarding dynamic, interconnected OT ecosystems.

2. Compliance and Regulatory Support

Compliance is a cornerstone of OT security, ensuring alignment with industry standards like NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and ISO 27001. These frameworks establish the security baseline for critical infrastructure and require robust controls to defend against cyber threats. Non-compliance can result in severe penalties, operational disruptions, and reputational damage, especially in high-risk sectors like energy, manufacturing, and transportation.

When selecting OT security solutions, prioritize tools with compliance-focused features designed to meet regulatory demands. Essential capabilities include audit trails that capture and preserve system activity logs for forensic investigations, detailed logging for user activity tracking, and automated reporting tools that simplify regulatory audits with structured, ready-to-use documentation.

Solutions with built-in mapping tools offer a significant advantage by linking security practices directly to compliance requirements. These tools help identify security gaps and streamline necessary adjustments without excessive manual effort. Aligning security strategies with regulatory mandates ensures compliance and simplifies the audit process, saving time and resources.

The business benefits of compliance readiness extend beyond avoiding fines or legal consequences—they foster stakeholder trust and enhance operational resilience. Adherence to recognized standards reassures customers, partners, and regulators that systems are secure and well-managed. Strong compliance also reduces the risk of operational disruptions from security failures, preventing cascading issues across interconnected OT environments.

3. Real-Time Monitoring and Threat Detection

Real-time monitoring and threat detection are essential for securing OT environments, where delays can result in safety risks, financial losses, or operational downtime. Continuous monitoring allows organizations to identify and address threats as they arise, preventing escalation and minimizing disruptions.

Detecting anomalous behavior is a core function of effective monitoring. This includes recognizing unexpected system changes, unauthorized access attempts, or unusual communication patterns. Advanced tools use AI and behavioral analytics to analyze historical data, establish baselines, and instantly flag deviations for rapid intervention.

Instant alerts and automated responses are critical advantages of real-time monitoring. Immediate notifications ensure quick action, while automated responses—such as isolating compromised devices or blocking suspicious traffic—contain threats before they spread. These capabilities significantly reduce the window of opportunity for attackers.

Comprehensive monitoring must cover both IT and OT networks to counter cross-domain threats. Many cyberattacks exploit IT systems to infiltrate OT infrastructure, making unified visibility across both domains crucial. This integration strengthens threat detection and fosters collaboration between IT and OT teams for a coordinated defense.

4. Usability and Deployment Flexibility

Your OT security solution’s usability and deployment flexibility directly affect how efficiently your team can adopt and manage the system. A cumbersome or inflexible solution can slow workflows, increase training costs, and hinder threat response, ultimately weakening your overall security posture.

Effective usability ensures your security team can easily deploy, operate, and manage the solution. Key features include intuitive dashboards for quick visibility into system health, user-friendly interfaces that reduce the learning curve, and accessible documentation for streamlined troubleshooting and onboarding. These tools allow teams to focus on mitigating threats rather than navigating complex systems.

Deployment flexibility is equally vital, as organizations have diverse infrastructure and operational needs. Top solutions offer multiple deployment options to accommodate diverse environments: on-premises setups for data-sensitive operations, cloud-based deployments for scalability and remote access, and hybrid models that combine both for greater adaptability. Agentless designs and minimal hardware requirements also reduce complexity and speed up implementation, eliminating the need to install software on individual devices and making integration with legacy OT systems more efficient.

These usability and flexibility features collectively drive faster adoption and higher operational efficiency. A well-optimized solution reduces training time, lowers operational costs, and minimizes rollout disruptions. This accelerates ROI and allows teams to prioritize security strategies over administrative tasks.

Comparing Leading OT Security Solutions

1. PrivX OT Edition by SSH Communications Security

SSH’s PrivX OT Edition is a specialized solution designed to tackle the unique security challenges of OT environments. Its core features enhance security, simplify access management, and support compliance, making it ideal for organizations prioritizing precision and efficiency in OT security strategies.

A standout feature of PrivX OT Edition is its Zero Trust approach, which enforces Just-in-Time (JIT) access and role-based access controls. These mechanisms ensure that users operate with the least privilege principle, granting them only the permissions necessary for their specific tasks and only for the required duration. PrivX reduces the attack surface by minimizing unnecessary access and strengthening control over sensitive OT systems.

PrivX’s agentless, lightweight architecture eliminates the need for deploying and maintaining agents on individual endpoints. This reduces operational overhead, speeds up deployment, and avoids the risks associated with agent-based solutions. Its design is particularly effective in OT environments with diverse devices and legacy systems.

Another strength of PrivX is its extensive support of a wide range of OT communication protocols, including SSH, RDP, VNC, Profinet, Modbus, and OPC UA. This wide compatibility ensures seamless integration with various industrial systems and control networks. This solution secures access without disrupting the operational flow of critical OT infrastructure.

Advanced session recording and monitoring capabilities help organizations meet regulatory standards like NIS2 and IEC 62443. PrivX offers detailed auditing and traceability, enabling compliance and supporting forensic analysis. This ensures accountability and allows for rapid incident response when security events occur.

Integration with ticketing systems, such as IT service management (ITSM) tools, streamlines access approvals through automated workflows. This reduces manual tasks, enhances operational efficiency, and maintains strict access control. Automating approval processes minimizes human error and ensures consistent security enforcement. 

2. FortiGate OT Security by Fortinet

FortiGate OT Security is a comprehensive solution that goes beyond traditional network protection by offering advanced, scalable, and integrated security features. This makes it a good choice for organizations prioritizing robust OT security.

Core security features include powerful firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) designed for industrial networks. Its deep packet inspection (DPI) capability analyzes and secures OT network traffic at a granular level, effectively identifying and mitigating advanced persistent threats (APTs) that target critical systems.

FortiGate OT Security seamlessly integrates with the Fortinet Security Fabric for centralized management and visibility across IT and OT networks. This unified approach eliminates silos, providing real-time insights into potential threats and streamlining incident response across diverse systems.

The solution also protects legacy OT systems and supports ruggedized hardware for harsh industrial environments. Its scalability allows it to adapt to growing network demands without sacrificing performance, making it ideal for large enterprises with complex OT infrastructures.

3. Prisma Access by Palo Alto Networks

Prisma Access is a great solution for securing hybrid IT-OT environments, especially with remote or distributed workforces. Its cloud-native architecture enables seamless, secure access to OT systems, outperforming traditional on-premises solutions that struggle with remote connectivity. This design ensures continuous protection without sacrificing accessibility.

AI-driven threat prevention enhances Prisma Access’s ability to detect and neutralize advanced cyber threats. Leveraging machine learning models, it identifies anomalies that signature-based tools often miss, reducing attacker dwell time. This proactive security approach protects critical OT assets from sophisticated cyberattacks.

The platform’s Zero Trust architecture enforces strict authentication and access controls. No user or device—internal or external—can access OT systems without meeting predefined security requirements. This minimizes lateral movement within the network and shields sensitive industrial systems from unauthorized access.

Prisma Access simplifies security management with a centralized platform for monitoring, configuration, and policy enforcement. This unified interface improves operational efficiency, reduces administrative workload, and ensures consistent security across all assets. Its integration with other Palo Alto Networks tools creates a cohesive, end-to-end security ecosystem for IT and OT environments.

4. Claroty Secure Remote Access by Claroty

Claroty Secure Remote Access focuses on enabling secure vendor and third-party access while maintaining strict control over remote sessions. This is essential in industrial settings where external access is necessary for maintenance but also presents a major security risk if not properly managed.

Real-time session monitoring and auditing are standout features that provide visibility into remote access activities. This allows organizations to track who is accessing systems, what actions they take, and when. The platform’s robust auditing capabilities offer a detailed historical record for post-incident analysis, compliance verification, and operational accountability.

Claroty supports a wide range of industrial protocols, including proprietary ones often overlooked by general security solutions. This ensures seamless compatibility with both legacy systems and modern industrial technologies. As a result, organizations can secure diverse OT infrastructures without sacrificing operational efficiency.

Integration with existing identity management systems, such as Active Directory and single sign-on (SSO), simplifies user authentication. This streamlines access control while ensuring consistent and robust identity verification across the organization. Additionally, granular access policies and detailed logging strengthen compliance readiness by aligning with regulatory standards and internal security protocols.

5. Tenable OT Security by Tenable, Inc.

Tenable OT Security delivers a comprehensive solution for protecting operational technology environments, making it ideal for organizations aiming to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses. Its advanced asset discovery and vulnerability management capabilities provide complete visibility into OT systems, devices, and connections. This level of insight is critical for identifying security gaps and ensuring that no part of the network remains exposed.

Continuous real-time monitoring is a core strength of Tenable OT Security. Its proactive surveillance quickly detects and addresses risks as they emerge, reducing the likelihood of undetected threats compromising critical operations. By identifying both known vulnerabilities and anomalous behavior, the platform enhances network resilience and minimizes response time.

Seamless integration with existing IT security tools allows Tenable OT Security to unify risk management across IT and OT systems. This eliminates operational silos, providing a consolidated view of security threats organization-wide. Its compatibility with tools like SIEMs and vulnerability scanners ensures OT risks are fully incorporated into broader security strategies.

Tenable OT Security prioritizes vulnerabilities based on potential impact, enabling smarter risk mitigation. By assigning risk scores and contextualizing threats, it directs resources toward addressing the most critical vulnerabilities first. This targeted approach, combined with its support for IT-OT collaboration, fosters consistent security practices and a unified defense strategy.

Emerging Trends in OT Security

Emerging trends in OT security are reshaping how organizations protect critical infrastructure from evolving cyber threats. These advancements address the growing complexity of threats and the need for adaptive security in industrial environments. Staying ahead of these trends is essential for safeguarding operational continuity and resilience.

Zero Trust architecture is becoming foundational in OT security strategies. Zero Trust models enforce continuous authentication and strict access controls for every user, device, and system, reducing unauthorized access risks. Unlike traditional perimeter-based defenses, Zero Trust dynamically assesses trust, making it highly effective for complex industrial networks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology enhances the threat detection and response capabilities of OT systems. By using advanced behavioral analytics, AI identifies anomalies and potential intrusions, enabling faster threat mitigation. Predictive insights and real-time monitoring automate responses, minimizing manual intervention and strengthening proactive risk management.

The convergence of IT and OT systems enhances operational efficiency but significantly expands the attack surface, increasing exposure to cross-domain threats like malware infiltration. Organizations need integrated security solutions that offer unified monitoring and threat management across both environments. Strong collaboration between IT and OT teams is essential for building a cohesive defense strategy that effectively addresses shared vulnerabilities.

Another major trend is the heightened focus on national and industrial security amid rising cyber threats. With critical infrastructure sectors facing increased risks from state-sponsored attacks and geopolitical tensions, safeguarding these systems has become a priority for both governments and industries. This has mandated closer collaboration among stakeholders to establish and enforce standards that protect critical systems.

International standards such as NERC CIP and IEC 62443 play a key role in promoting global best practices. These frameworks provide comprehensive guidelines for securing OT environments, helping organizations navigate regulatory requirements while improving their resilience against sophisticated threats. As these standards evolve, they increasingly emphasize adaptive security measures to counter the dynamic nature of industrial cyber risks.

Effortless OT Security Starts with PrivX OT Edition

Ready to take control of your OT security without the complexity? SSH PrivX OT Edition delivers Zero Trust access, Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning, and agentless architecture to secure critical systems while keeping operations smooth. Its robust session recording, protocol support, and seamless integration with workflow tools make securing industrial networks effortless. Want to see it in action?

Let’s make it happen—book a demo and experience smarter OT security today.

FAQ

What is an OT security solution?

An OT security solution protects operational technology systems by ensuring secure access, monitoring, and safeguarding against cyber threats. It focuses on maintaining system availability, reliability, and compliance while addressing the unique needs of industrial protocols and critical infrastructure environments.

Why is OT security important for businesses?

OT security prevents cyber threats from disrupting critical operations, protects sensitive systems from unauthorized access, and ensures compliance with industry regulations. It safeguards public safety, operational continuity, and the financial stability of organizations reliant on industrial systems.

How is OT security different from IT security?

OT security prioritizes operational continuity and physical safety, whereas IT security emphasizes data confidentiality and integrity. OT systems are often legacy-based and have unique protocols, making their security needs distinct from frequently updated IT environments.

What features should a good OT security solution have?

Key features include Zero Trust access control, real-time monitoring, compliance support, role-based access, and support for industrial protocols like Profinet and Modbus. Scalability, flexible deployment options, and centralized management are also critical.

What are the challenges in implementing OT security?

Challenges include securing legacy systems with outdated architectures, integrating diverse industrial protocols, maintaining system uptime during updates, and managing IT-OT convergence. Compliance with stringent regulations and resource limitations also pose difficulties.