2026 is coming: Are your OT security controls ready?

The year 2026 marks another inflection point for Operational Technology (OT) security. The 7th one in the last 3 years as per some voices. We are now seeing more inflection points than action. No matter how we perceive OT security, one thing is clear. We need to prepare for 2026 and prepare like never before.

The mission is no longer about just keeping the plant or a site up and running but it’s about building a defensible, resilient, sustainable and verifiable industrial enterprise that can not just defend but can also come back up faster in case of an incident.

If you're planning your strategy for the next 18-24 months, the time for theoretical debates is over. The focus must be on practical, measurable execution across key domains. Here’s what your 2026 preparedness plan must prioritize.

Asset visibility: From "rough estimates" to "truth"

You cannot protect what you cannot see clearly. In 2026, a static spreadsheet of assets or one that is not updated could turn into a liability. The priority of achieving continuous, automated asset visibility is the foundational source of truth for all other security activities.

• Going beyond basic discovery: Your goal should be to have a rich, detailed inventory. Recent guidance from CISA has solidified this as a foundational control. Your system must automatically discover and categorize every asset, collecting a minimum of key attributes: IP/MAC address, manufacturer, model, OS/firmware version, physical location, and active communication protocols.

• Map your 'Crown Jewels': Use this inventory to identify and map your most critical processes with specific steps. What assets, if compromised, would trigger a safety incident or a costly production halt? This "crown jewel" analysis will drive prioritization for all other controls.

• Build your baseline: True visibility isn't just an inventory; it's understanding behavior. Your visibility solution must baseline normal communication patterns (such as "This PLC only speaks to a specific HMI on this port"). This baseline is your most powerful tool for spotting a new, unauthorized connection or a malicious command, the first sign of an intrusion.

OT risk assessments: Make them dynamic and defensible

By 2026, a risk assessment that only looks at IT vulnerabilities is insufficient. Your OT risk assessment process must evolve to reflect the unique realities of the plant floor, where availability and safety trump confidentiality.

• Start with a Technical Baseline: Don't start with a paper audit. Begin with a technical assessment, including a review of all network diagrams, data flow maps, and even passive network traffic captures. This identifies the real architecture, not the one in the outdated diagram.

• Prioritize by Business Impact: A high-severity vulnerability on a non-critical asset is less of a priority than a medium-severity vulnerability on your primary production controller. Your risk register must be scored using a business-centric lens. Ask: "What is the operational impact of this asset failing?"

• Use Frameworks as a Guide, Not a Crutch: Use standards like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and IEC 62443 as your guide. The goal isn't to "check every box" but to use these frameworks to identify your current gaps and build a prioritized roadmap that measurably reduces the specific risks you've identified.

• Your risk assessment checklists should be aligned to your operations and specific risk profile

IEC 62443: Moving from theory to target Security Levels

The IEC 62443 standard is the global benchmark for OT security, and by 2026, fluency in it will be non-negotiable. Your focus should be on operationalizing its concepts, specifically Security Levels (SLs).

• Define your target (SL-T): This is the most critical step. Your OT risk assessment (from the previous point) is what you use to define your Target Security Level (SL-T). For a low-risk zone, an SL-T of 1 (protection against casual violation) might be fine. For your "crown jewel" processes, you may define an SL-T of 3 (protection against sophisticated, "ICS-specific" attackers).

• Measure your "as-is" (SL-A): This is your Achieved Security Level to know what your controls actually provide today. This is where your asset inventory and network maps are crucial.

• Close the gap: Your 2026 security roadmap is, in essence, the list of projects required to close the gap between your SL-A and your SL-T. This makes your security budget defensible. Instead of asking for "better security," you are asking for the specific resources needed to move your primary production line from SL-1 to a target of SL-3, as dictated by your risk assessment. This includes implementing zones, conduits, and stronger technical controls on your components and systems (as per IEC 62443 3-3).

• Do you have an SBOM and HBOM for every component in your network and infrastructure?

Employee training: Embed cyber-safety into plant-safety

The biggest human-factor risk in OT is not malice; it's a lack of context. An IT technician who reboots a server creates an inconvenience. An engineer who reboots a PLC at the wrong time can cause a physical incident. Your training must evolve from generic "phishing awareness" to role-based, contextual cyber-safety.

• Stop Generic Training: Create micro-training modules specific to roles. An operator needs to know how to spot a "spoofed" HMI screen and who to call. A maintenance engineer needs to know the secure procedure for using a USB device or laptop. A remote vendor needs to understand your exact remote access policy.

• Speak their Language: Integrate cyber-safety into the existing plant-safety culture. Talk about "cyber-hygiene" in the same way you talk about "lockout/tagout" (LOTO). A "cyber-LOTO" procedure before critical digital maintenance is a powerful, understandable concept.

• Gamify and Reinforce: Make it part of the daily routine. Include a "cyber-safety minute" in daily huddles. Use gamified simulations that show the physical consequences of a digital mistake. This makes the risk tangible, not abstract.

Incident Response: Prepare for IT-OT joint operations

When an incident hits, the clock is ticking. A purely IT-led incident response (IR) plan will fail in an OT environment. The 2026-ready leader has a unified, pre-planned, and drilled IT-OT incident response plan.

• Build a joint playbook: Your incident response plan must have well defined "swim lanes" for IT, OT, and engineering. It must answer critical questions before the crisis:

  • Who has the authority to isolate a network segment or shut down a process?

  • What is the "safe state" for a process if we must disconnect it?

  • How do we preserve forensic data on a PLC that has no hard drive?

  • What are our backup and recovery procedures for Level 1 and Level 0 devices?

  • When will the backups be triggered?

• Drill, drill, drill: A playbook you've never tested will fail. Run immersive tabletop exercises for OT-specific scenarios:

  • "Ransomware has just encrypted our HMI and is moving toward the PLCs. What do we do, minute by minute?" What steps should be triggered?

  • "Our process data is being manipulated, but the physical process looks normal. How do we verify?"

• Go for an AI-Driven intrusion detection: With attackers now using AI to blend in, you need to know how to use AI to find them. By 2026, your OT monitoring system must use multiple types of detection methods to spot the anomaly. It could be a malicious command in a sea of normal traffic and automatically trigger an alert or a containment action in your joint playbook. An OT specific NIDS solution like Shieldworkz can be the answer you are looking for.

Preparing for 2026 shouldn’t be about buying a magic box and sprinkling fairy dust to make assets appear suddenly. It should instead be about building a resilient security program I.E., one that is built on a foundation of visibility, guided by risk, and operated by a security-aware culture.

The work you do today will determine if 2026 is a year of crisis or a one of control.