White Paper
Secure Manufacturing: The challenges of IT/OT Convergence
This research paper analyzes how manufacturing firms are rapidly integrating IT and OT systems to enable Industry 4.0 capabilities such as predictive maintenance, real-time monitoring, and automation. While convergence drives innovation, resilience, and efficiency, it significantly increases cybersecurity risks, with most incidents originating in IT and impacting OT operations. The study highlights widespread security incidents, high downtime costs, and low maturity levels across organizations. It emphasizes gaps in governance, culture, and technical readiness, and outlines the need for integrated security strategies, clear accountability, and advanced controls to safely enable digital transformation.
