Firms Overestimate OT Security

A significant "confidence-to-evidence gap" exists in industrial cybersecurity, where organizations' belief in their security posture outstrips the verifiable reality. The "State of Industrial Remote Access 2026" report, which surveyed 400 senior leaders in manufacturing and critical infrastructure, found that while most rated their visibility and compliance as "good," the underlying data tells a different story. This misplaced confidence creates dangerous blind spots, particularly as operational technology (OT) environments become increasingly interconnected with IT systems. Third-party vendor access has emerged as the primary risk multiplier in these industrial settings. The likelihood of a security incident rises sharply as the number of external vendors grows, with organizations managing 21 to 100 vendors reporting the highest levels of exposure. This risk is less about vendor behavior and more about how companies structure and monitor that access. A critical vulnerability lies in the lack of comprehensive oversight, with only 43% of organizations reporting full audit trails of vendor sessions. This majority operating with only partial visibility creates significant compliance and forensic challenges. Fragmented remote access tools, including VPNs and OEM-supplied software, contribute to this lack of a unified view and consistent audit trails. The convergence of IT and OT systems further complicates the security landscape. OT environments, which control physical processes, prioritize availability and safety, meaning they cannot be easily taken offline for updates—a standard practice in IT security. This fundamental difference often leaves legacy OT systems with unpatched vulnerabilities, making them attractive targets for cyberattacks that can have real-world physical consequences. In response to these growing threats, there is a clear market shift towards Zero Trust security models and unified, OT-specific remote access platforms. Adopting a Zero Trust approach, which verifies every access request, shows a direct correlation with higher session visibility, better vendor auditability, and lower incident exposure. Regulatory pressure is also intensifying globally. Frameworks such as the EU's NIS2 directive are expanding to include more critical infrastructure sectors, demanding stricter cybersecurity measures and greater accountability from leadership. This is pushing organizations to move beyond mere compliance and toward demonstrating verifiable control over their OT environments.