Bottom line: OT systems require specialized security concepts that account for production availability and compliance requirements such as NIS2, rather than simply mapping IT standards.
Cyberattacks are increasingly targeting production environments, not just classical IT systems. CISOs face the challenge of balancing OT security and availability — transferring standard IT concepts directly to OT endangers ongoing production.
Operational Technology (OT) systems in manufacturing environments are subject to different requirements than IT infrastructure. While IT systems can often tolerate planned downtime for patches and updates, OT systems must remain continuously available — production stoppages cost money directly and threaten the supply chain.
Companies thus face a dilemma: security measures must be implemented but must not compromise the availability of critical production processes. At the same time, regulatory pressure is growing through standards such as NIS2, which also include OT systems in the scope of protection.
Direct application of IT security concepts to OT regularly fails against this reality. OT systems often have long lifecycles, possess limited computing resources, and were originally not designed for network-based attack vectors. A CISO must therefore develop OT-specific security architectures that address availability, security, and compliance in a balanced manner.
Source: www.security-insider.de · Published July 6, 2026
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