OT Security: Beyond compliance, a strategic imperative for critical infrastructure resilience
In a world where our most critical infrastructures, from energy generation to the chemical industry, are increasingly connected, cybersecurity is no longer an option; it is an absolute necessity. Faced with threats that now target the physical world via digital means, OT security is establishing itself as the cornerstone of industrial protection. Diego Fernando Guerrero, an OT expert at Airbus Protect, sheds light on its issues and challenges.
With over 22 years of experience in the energy sector, Diego Fernando Guerrero now supports Airbus Protect’s customers across the entire OT cybersecurity lifecycle. His approach aims to help industrial players overcome their challenges in a pragmatic and meaningful way, while keeping their specific resources and constraints in mind.
Protecting the physical world from digital threats.
OT security is an “art combining methods, tools and solutions used to protect the most critical infrastructure”, explains Diego Fernando Guerrero. It encompasses the industrial systems responsible for the production, distribution, and generation of goods essential to our societies. However, this domain faces three major challenges.
- The first is the increasing interaction with Information Technology (IT). “OT needs to deliver information to the business, but this also opens up new attack vectors,” he points out.
- The second challenge is asset visibility. In many plants, “the as-built network is not identical to the one that was designed,” which prevents the environment from being completely protected.
- Finally, the third challenge is the supply chain, where “every stage of the process, from suppliers to customers, adds a new risk to the components.”
A challenge for an entire industrial ecosystem
The challenges of OT security are manifold. It is a matter of preserving the reliability and availability of operational processes, but the scope extends to an interconnected industrial ecosystem. “We must also comply with a new and growing challenge: the standardisation and regulation imposed by governments,” states Diego Fernando Guerrero, citing examples such as NIS 2 or the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA).
According to him, this ‘increase in requirements can be very difficult for our customers to keep up with’. We therefore help them navigate this dense regulatory landscape and support them in planning their compliance with a clear roadmap. But the real challenge is to secure a complex ecosystem where every link in the chain, from equipment manufacturers to infrastructure managers, plays a vital role.
The Airbus Protect approach: A trusted partnership for end-to-end resilience
How can such diverse industrial players be effectively supported? For Diego Fernando Guerrero, the answer lies in an approach that goes far beyond simply applying a checklist. “We support our customers across the entire OT cybersecurity lifecycle, starting with governance, then risk analysis, solution design, maintenance, and finally, incident response.”
This philosophy translates into support that relies on a unique advantage. “What truly sets us apart is that most of our experts have extensive experience with industrial systems. They have been on the ground, with the engineers who actually operate the machines.” He concludes: “Furthermore, we are part of an ecosystem that has manufacturing in its DNA. If we cannot solve a problem in-house, we can turn to a colleague at Airbus for a solution or advice.”
In conclusion, the approach of Diego Fernando Guerrero and his teams illustrates a modern vision for OT cybersecurity: a holistic, collaborative approach that is deeply rooted in operational reality, where regulatory compliance is only the first step towards a true culture of operational resilience.
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