In the current technological landscape, organizations must balance competing demands. There is the conventional physical world, which is made up of machines, electromechanical devices, production systems and other business equipment. Then there is the digital world, which employs servers, storage, networking and other tools to process data and operate programs. These two areas have traditionally been separate domains, which exchange scant (if any) useful information or authority, and require radically dissimilar skill sets.
But the worlds of OT and IT are beginning to merge, creating many benefits. Technology advancements like the industrial internet of things (IIoT) and big data analytics are enabling IT teams to “see” and “take the pulse” of machines and other OT devices in the physical world. This allows the CISO or the security team that owns the responsibility of securing OT systems to implement appropriate measures to protect OT environments, systems and the data they handle.