Advanced Security Programs

Operational Technology Testing

Uncover hidden threats across operational technology (OT) environments to validate security, safety, and resilience against real-world adversaries.

OT Security Assurance

Operational Technology (OT) environments power critical processes across manufacturing, energy, utilities, transportation, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. These environments integrate industrial control systems, field devices, legacy platforms, modern networks, and human operators, often with limited tolerance for disruption.

Adversaries target OT environments by exploiting the interaction between industrial systems, enterprise networks, remote access pathways, hardware devices, and human workflows. OnDefend OT security testing combines elite adversary expertise with proprietary technology to assess OT environments as integrated operational ecosystems.

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OT Security Testing Capabilities

Adversary-Driven OT Testing

We simulate real-world adversaries targeting OT environments to understand how attackers gain access, interact with industrial systems, and create operational risk while prioritizing safety and system stability.

Industrial Network and Segmentation Testing

We assess OT network architectures to identify segmentation weaknesses, insecure trust relationships, and exposure between IT and OT systems that could allow unauthorized access or operational disruption.

Control System and Protocol Assessment

We evaluate industrial control systems and protocols to identify insecure configurations, weak authentication, and exposure that could enable manipulation, interruption, or degradation of operations.

Hardware, Firmware, and Embedded Device Testing

We assess PLCs, RTUs, controllers, sensors, and other embedded OT devices to identify firmware weaknesses, insecure interfaces, and unauthorized communications.

Remote Access and Vendor Connectivity Testing

We evaluate remote access pathways, vendor connections, and maintenance interfaces to identify exposure that could enable unauthorized access into OT environments.

Human and Operational Workflow Testing

We assess how human processes, procedures, and operational workflows can be exploited to bypass technical controls or delay detection and response.

Risks Uncovered

OnDefend OT security testing identifies real-world risks adversaries can exploit to impact safety, availability, and operational integrity, including:

OT and IT Boundary Exposure

OT and IT Boundary Exposure

Risk introduced by weak segmentation or trust relationships between enterprise IT systems and OT environments.

Insecure Control System Configurations

Insecure Control System Configurations

Misconfigurations in control systems, protocols, and devices that enable unauthorized access or manipulation.

Hardware, Firmware, and Embedded Device Risk

Hardware, Firmware, and Embedded Device Risk

Insecure OT hardware and firmware that introduce hidden exposure or persistence within industrial environments.

Remote Access and Vendor Connectivity Risk

Remote Access and Vendor Connectivity Risk

Exposure introduced by third-party access, maintenance interfaces, and remote connectivity pathways.

Detection and Monitoring Gaps

Detection and Monitoring Gaps

Limited visibility into OT environments that delays identification of adversary activity or abnormal behavior.

Response and Recovery Weaknesses

Response and Recovery Weaknesses

Gaps in incident response coordination and recovery procedures that increase operational impact.

Human and Procedural Risk

Human and Procedural Risk

Operational practices and workflows that can be exploited to bypass controls or delay containment.

Operational Safety and Resilience Risk

Operational Safety and Resilience Risk

Conditions that could allow adversary activity to degrade safety systems, availability, or process integrity.

Giving You The Competitive Advantage

OnDefend delivers a decisive advantage over adversaries by combining elite operator expertise, proprietary technology, and intelligence-driven validation to expose real-world risk across operational, physical, and embedded environments.

Elite OT and Hardware Security Operators

Testing is performed by experienced operators with backgrounds in industrial environments, control systems, hardware security, and embedded systems, validating OT and physical infrastructure risk using real adversary techniques.

Intelligence-Driven Adversary Simulation

Testing is guided by commercial and proprietary threat intelligence, prioritizing active attack techniques targeting OT, hardware, and critical infrastructure, focusing validation on threats that cause real operational impact rather than theoretical scenarios.

Comprehensive, Multi-Layer Coverage

We validate how risk emerges across industrial systems, networks, hardware, firmware, remote access pathways, and human workflows, providing holistic visibility into OT environments as integrated operational ecosystems.

AI- and Automation-Enhanced Coverage

AI-assisted analysis and automation expand coverage across environments, devices, and configurations, revealing hidden exposure and systemic weaknesses that manual testing often misses.

Continuous Validation Capabilities

Automation enables ongoing validation of security posture over time, maintaining visibility into risk introduced by system changes, firmware updates, configuration drift, and evolving operational dependencies.

Executive and Technical Reporting

Clear, prioritized reporting delivers actionable findings for engineering and operations teams while translating technical risk into business-relevant insight, enabling leadership to make informed risk and resilience decisions.

Adversary-Driven Impact Narratives

Findings are presented as realistic attack narratives showing how adversaries achieve operational impact across OT, hardware, and supporting systems, providing clear insight into real-world consequences, detection gaps, and root cause.

Standards-Aligned, Outcome-Focused Validation

Testing aligns with NIST 800-82, IEC 62443, ISA/IEC standards, and MITRE ATT&CK for ICS while validating real-world exploitability, demonstrating whether OT security controls withstand real adversaries beyond compliance requirements.

Our Team
Partners with Yours

We work closely with OT, engineering, safety, and security teams to understand operational constraints and objectives. Ensuring testing delivers actionable insight without compromising system stability.

Resources

Explore our comprehensive resource collection to enhance your organization’s security posture and stay ahead of potential threats.

Always Innovating

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TikTok Partnership

HaystackID and OnDefend are furthering security of the TikTok U.S. platform & app.

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OT Security Testing FAQs 

What is OT security testing?

OT security testing evaluates the security of industrial control systems and operational environments, focusing on how adversaries could impact safety, availability, and operational integrity.

How is OT testing different from IT penetration testing?

OT testing prioritizes safety and system stability while assessing industrial protocols, devices, and workflows that differ significantly from traditional IT systems.

Can OT security testing disrupt operations?

Testing is carefully scoped and coordinated to minimize risk and avoid operational disruption.

Which industries benefit from OT security testing?

Energy, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, oil and gas, and critical infrastructure organizations benefit most.

Does OT testing include hardware and firmware?

Yes. Testing can include PLCs, controllers, sensors, firmware, and embedded devices used in industrial environments.

Does OT security testing support compliance?

Testing supports governance and regulatory efforts by validating real-world security effectiveness beyond checklist compliance.

Secure Your OT Environment.

Understand your real exposure with guidance from security experts.