In the past two decades, the digitization of business and daily life has led to the emergence of several new players in the cybersecurity market. Industries have been going through a similar phase of digitization, which has blurred the lines between IT and operational technology (OT) as OT has been brought online. The resulting “cyber-physical” systems have created many vulnerabilities and risks that are difficult to identify in these highly complex environments. In response, a new generation of specialized security players that natively support converged IT/OT environments is now emerging to fend off the threats faced by industrial players.

All the planets in the OT cyber security market – regulatory, market awareness, availability of new solutions – appear to have now aligned for it to reach its potential. Stakeholders are faced with two key issues in the coming five years: first, adopting new OT security solutions that offer strong capabilities in asset identification, network visibility and continuous risk monitoring; and second, dealing with the talent shortage plaguing cybersecurity – and even more so OT security – due to the specific skillset it requires. This will drive up demand for managed OT security services and also for solutions that have strong automation capabilities