Two major debates are shaping the future of operational technology security. The first concerns the Cyber Resilience Act and whether it will meaningfully improve OT security across the European Union within the next three years. Supporters argue that the legislation will push vendors toward better product assurance and vulnerability management, while critics believe its timelines and enforcement mechanisms are unrealistic for complex industrial environments. The discussion centers on whether regulatory pressure can truly drive measurable risk reduction in systems that were never designed with cybersecurity in mind.

The second debate examines the growing role of artificial intelligence in operational decision-making. As AI systems gain authority to take autonomous actions in industrial settings, the possibility arises that mistakes could cause medium-level incidents without human intervention. Advocates see automation as essential for efficiency and predictive control, while skeptics warn of trust, accountability, and safety gaps if AI operates beyond human oversight. The broader issue is how far organizations are willing to delegate control to algorithms in critical infrastructure before security and reliability are compromised.

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Source: https://dale-peterson.com/2025/10/21/two-ot-security-debates/