The Cyber Risk of Autonomous Workflows
As workflows move from deterministic automation to autonomous action, security must govern intent, provenance, permissions, and behavior. Autonomy is not the problem. Unbounded autonomy is.
Topic
OT Security
8 essays in this series
Data Integration as a Security Control
The relationship between data integration and security is usually framed in one direction. The more consequential relationship runs the other way: data integration determines what can be seen, correlated, and acted on.
From Continuous Monitoring to Continuous Awareness
Data volume produces the appearance of security awareness while frequently obscuring the understanding that awareness is supposed to provide. The distinction between monitoring and awareness is the difference between having data and understanding what it is telling you.
Safe Interrogation in Fragile Systems: The Art of Touching Without Breaking
There is a competency in OT security that rarely appears in job descriptions but separates practitioners who can operate in industrial environments from those who have only studied them.
The Visibility Gap in OT: Why You See Less Than You Think
The gap between documented assets and actual assets in industrial environments is not organizational incompetence — it is a structural feature. And threat actors are not constrained by your asset inventory.
Why Vulnerability Management Breaks Down in Industrial Systems
The patch-prioritize-verify cycle of enterprise vulnerability management rests on assumptions that collapse in OT environments. A mature OT vulnerability program looks fundamentally different — and must be built from scratch.
Active vs. Passive Monitoring in OT: The Question Nobody Wants to Answer
Passive monitoring is the safe choice in OT — and if taken too literally, it is also an incomplete one. The real answer is a tiered interrogation model that reflects actual device risk, not methodology purity.
The False Promise of IT Security in OT Environments
The assumption that OT security is just IT security in a different building is not only wrong — it is dangerous. Applying IT controls to OT environments does not reduce risk. It introduces a new category of it.