Only 13% of OT Network Segments Keep Operational Technology Isolated
Brief
New research from Forescout Vedere Labs has found that critical operational and medical devices are frequently sharing network segments with IT and IoT assets, potentially giving attackers more opportunities to move laterally following an initial compromise.
The cybersecurity research team analysed 47,700 real-world network segments containing more than 2. 5 million devices across 209 organisations. Devices were divided into four categories, IT, operational technology (OT), IoT and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), as well as 327 individual device functions.
While 62% of the segments analysed contained devices from a single category, the picture changed significantly when researchers looked specifically at specialist OT and medical equipment.
Just 13% of segments containing OT devices were OT-only, falling to only 6% for segments containing IoMT equipment.