The OT Resilience Gap

Identifying vulnerabilities and executing effective strategies for rapid industrial recovery.

Executive Summary

Cyber incidents are now a major operational risk for industrial networks. Despite increased investments in IT security, industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) remain highly vulnerable due to legacy infrastructure, complex interdependencies, and the widening gap between perceived readiness and actual recovery capabilities.

This comprehensive study evaluates the current state of OT resilience across critical infrastructure sectors. The findings reveal a stark reality: while organizations acknowledge the threat, their ability to bounce back from destructive attacks (like ransomware) within acceptable timeframes is severely lacking. Traditional backup methods are failing when applied to bare-metal industrial environments.

To maintain operational continuity, the industry must shift from a purely preventative mindset to an "assume breach" mentality—prioritizing guaranteed, instant physical recovery.

Key Findings at a Glance

67%

Incident Frequency

of industrial organizations have experienced a significant cyber incident or operational disruption in the past 12 months, highlighting the aggressive targeting of OT networks.

>60%

Lack of Confidence

of respondents lack confidence in their current IT-based backup systems to restore OT operations within their target Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

Recovery: The Critical Missing Link

79%

Reliance on Flawed Methods

of organizations still rely on traditional network-based IT backup solutions for their industrial environments. These solutions frequently fail during ransomware events due to network lockdowns and active directory compromises.

66%

Recent Incidents Cause Downtime

of the cyber incidents reported in the last year resulted in major production downtime, directly impacting revenue, supply chains, and safety systems.

The Cost of Downtime & Equipment Validation

>25% & >60%

Equipment Validation Hurdles

Over 25% of respondents noted that prolonged outages resulted in physical equipment desynchronization or damage. Furthermore, greater than 60% face extreme difficulty in validating bare-metal restorations across diverse HMI and SCADA vendors (Siemens, Rockwell, etc.) post-incident.

>70%

Avoidable Damage

Over 70% of operators agree that having instant, air-gapped physical recovery at the node level could have entirely prevented their most catastrophic downtime events.

Survey Participant Demographics

Total Surveyed

542 OT & IT Security Leaders

Primary Industries

Manufacturing (42%), Energy & Utilities (31%), Maritime (15%), Pharmaceuticals (12%)

Job Titles

CISO, VP of Operational Technology, Plant Manager, ICS Automation Engineer

Regions

North America, EMEA, APAC

The OT Resilience Imperative

The data is clear: traditional IT backup strategies alone are not enough for OT environments. Achieving true operational resilience requires purpose-built recovery solutions that ensure trusted backups, rapid recovery, and operational continuity when disruption occurs.