Manufacturing operations and OT cybersecurity remain surprisingly misaligned, according to recent reflections from the industrial security community. While engineers value visibility into their systems and assets, they typically don’t prioritize security functions like cyber asset inventory unless it directly supports operational goals. Attempts over the past decade to build inventory tools separate from security platforms have largely failed—security vendors continue to bundle detection, asset tracking, and vulnerability management instead of letting these capabilities evolve independently.

Bridging this divide requires a new mindset: treat the OT asset inventory not just as a security function but as a shared source of truth for both operations and cybersecurity teams. By integrating data from manufacturing systems (MES, SCADA, automation platforms) and correlating it with threat and vulnerability information, organizations can better connect operational performance to security posture. Advances in AI can help surface meaningful correlations—e.g. linking schedule deviations to firmware versions—though caution is needed to mitigate hallucinations or false inferences. The author sees a future where inventory, detection, and analytics converge across OT and industrial domains in a more connected, context-aware ecosystem.

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Source: https://dale-peterson.com/2025/09/23/disconnected-manufacturing-and-ot-security/