OT Industrial Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure

Sectors such as energy, water, transport, manufacturing, food production, healthcare, utilities, logistics and essential services depend on industrial systems that are increasingly connected, exposed and linked to ecosystems of suppliers, integrators and maintenance providers.

In this scenario, risk is no longer limited to the main organisation. The industrial supply chain forms a direct part of the attack surface: third-party remote access, maintenance equipment, removable devices, engineering workstations, legacy systems, external integrators and inter-plant connections can all become entry vectors for threats capable of affecting operations.

SOCITE 360, as the service brand of ITE’s Cybersecurity Unit, offers a specialised approach to protecting OT environments and critical infrastructure through a comprehensive vision: assessment, design, protection, monitoring, vulnerability management, incident response and continuous improvement of industrial resilience.

This approach is reinforced by TXOne Networks, a native OT technology focused on protecting industrial operations without disrupting them. TXOne positions itself as an OT cybersecurity company centred on operations, with the objective of protecting critical operations, securely extending the lifecycle of industrial assets and building security programmes without operational disruption.

OT Industrial Cybersecurity for critical infrastructure

The differentiating value of SOCITE 360 in critical OT environments

Industrial cybersecurity cannot be approached from a purely IT perspective. In OT, the priority is to maintain operations, preserve physical safety, avoid unplanned downtime and respect the constraints of industrial systems which, in many cases, cannot be patched, restarted or modified easily.

SOCITE 360 delivers value precisely at this point: it translates cybersecurity into the operational reality of industrial facilities. Its approach enables the identification of real risk, the prioritisation of actions according to operational criticality, and the deployment of security controls compatible with service continuity.

The SOCITE 360 approach is based on three principles:

First, knowledge of the industrial environment. A corporate network is not protected in the same way as a production line, electrical substation, water treatment plant or SCADA system. SOCITE 360 starts from the analysis of assets, communications, dependencies, processes and operational criticality.

Second, continuity-oriented security. Protection measures must reduce risk without jeopardising infrastructure availability. OT security must integrate into operations, not obstruct them.

Third, extended supply chain coverage. Protection must include not only the organisation’s own assets, but also the access points, devices, suppliers, maintenance providers and integrators interacting with the industrial environment.

The contribution of TXOne Networks: OT technology designed to keep operations running

The contribution of TXOne Networks is particularly relevant because its technology is specifically designed for industrial environments, where availability and stability are critical conditions. Its approach aligns with the principle of “Keep the Operation Running”, in other words, protecting without stopping operations.

TXOne provides technical capabilities that enable SOCITE 360 to transform OT cybersecurity services into a more complete, operational and scalable offering.

1. OT discovery and assessment without impacting production

One of the greatest challenges in critical infrastructure is achieving visibility without altering operations. TXOne incorporates passive assessment capabilities, such as SenninRecon, aimed at discovering OT assets, identifying vulnerabilities and generating production-safe recommendations while respecting maintenance windows, change management procedures and real plant conditions.

This enables SOCITE 360 to perform OT assessments on a stronger technical basis, identifying assets, communications, vulnerabilities, third-party exposure and real risks without introducing aggressive changes into the infrastructure.

In practice, this capability provides value in:

• Industrial asset inventory.
• Identification of legacy systems.
• Detection of critical vulnerabilities.
• Risk assessment based on operational criticality.
• Prioritisation of achievable actions.
• Consistent assessment across plants, sites and suppliers.

For critical infrastructure and supply chains, this point is essential: it enables organisations to move from a partial view of risk to an evidence-based understanding.

2. OT network protection and industrial segmentation

TXOne technology provides native OT network defence capabilities. Its Edge family, including solutions such as EdgeIPS and EdgeFire, is designed to protect industrial networks, reduce threat propagation and preserve the availability of industrial processes.

TXOne describes EdgeIPS as an OT-adapted network security solution, built on a “zero-disruption” principle, aimed at protecting industrial networks while maintaining uptime and performance. EdgeFire, meanwhile, incorporates granular ICS protocol inspection and OT traffic analysis from Layer 2 to Layer 7, using allowlist and blocklist methods to reinforce industrial cyber hygiene.

For SOCITE 360, this enables the delivery of advanced services including:

• Industrial segmentation.
• Protection of OT communications.
• Traffic control between zones and conduits.
• Containment of lateral movement.
• Protection of critical assets.
• Reduction of the impact of ransomware or industrial malware.
• Secure separation between IT, OT and third parties.

In critical infrastructure, this capability is essential to prevent a localised incident from spreading to control systems, production lines, engineering workstations or SCADA platforms.

3. Protection of industrial endpoints and legacy systems

A large proportion of OT risk is concentrated in industrial endpoints: HMIs, engineering workstations, SCADA servers, operational terminals, industrial kiosks, older Windows systems, industrial Linux systems and devices that cannot always be updated.

TXOne provides Stellar technology in this area, aimed at protecting OT endpoints. Stellar Protect is designed to prevent unexpected changes in industrial systems and includes editions for full ICS protection as well as legacy or single-purpose endpoints. In addition, TXOne highlights that Stellar combines industrial application repositories, device behaviour baselines and multi-method scanning to stop threats before they impact operations.

This approach enables SOCITE 360 to protect industrial assets without directly transferring IT models that could generate operational conflicts. Protection is adapted to the OT context and helps control:

• Execution of unauthorised software.
• Unexpected changes in critical systems.
• Malware in industrial workstations.
• Misuse of peripherals.
• Risks arising from obsolete systems.
• Fileless or living-off-the-land threats.

For critical infrastructure, this capability is especially valuable because many legacy systems cannot be replaced in the short term. TXOne enables their lifecycle to be extended more securely, while SOCITE 360 supports clients through a progressive risk reduction strategy.

4. Security for removable devices, suppliers and the supply chain

One of the most important aspects of the proposed approach is supply chain protection. In OT, a supplier can introduce risk through a maintenance laptop, USB device, software update, temporary workstation, remote connection or new equipment entering the plant.

TXOne addresses this scenario through inspection solutions such as Portable Inspector and Safe Port. TXOne states that its Security Inspection line enables rapid scanning without installation, protects isolated or air-gapped environments and improves supply chain security. It also underlines that the OT Zero Trust approach must begin the moment a device enters the workplace, whether during onboarding or in the hands of authorised personnel.

Portable Inspector enables the inspection of new equipment before incorporation into production, the execution of periodic audits, inventory management and the protection of isolated or out-of-band devices without installation requirements.

This technological contribution enables SOCITE 360 to strengthen specific industrial supply chain services including:

• Inspection of supplier equipment before entering the plant.
• Validation of maintenance laptops.
• Control of USB devices and removable media.
• Review of new assets before connection to production.
• Protection of isolated environments.
• Reduction of insider threat risk.
• Prevention of attacks introduced by third parties.

This point clearly broadens the scope of the service: OT cybersecurity is not limited to protecting the organisation’s own infrastructure, but also incorporates controls over external elements interacting with it.

5. OT risk prioritisation and multi-site governance

Critical infrastructure often operates across multiple plants, centres, sites, production lines or distributed facilities. This requires a consolidated view of risk.

TXOne provides governance and orchestration capabilities through SenninOne, which consolidates asset and protection information, enables risk assessment by asset, identifies security gaps, prioritises vulnerabilities and coordinates actions across TXOne solutions.

For SOCITE 360, this enables organisations to evolve from isolated projects towards continuous and measurable OT security programmes. Clients receive not only a static snapshot of risk, but also the ability to monitor, prioritise and continuously improve.

This is particularly relevant for:

• Industrial groups with multiple plants.
• Critical infrastructure operators.
• Organisations with distributed suppliers.
• Environments with multiple OT technologies.
• Regulatory compliance programmes.
• Managed OT service models.

SOCITE 360 + TXOne: an integrated proposal for critical infrastructure

The combination of SOCITE 360 and TXOne Networks enables the construction of a complete value proposition for critical industrial environments.

SOCITE 360 provides the expertise, service, methodology, operational capability and risk vision. TXOne provides native OT technology to discover, protect, segment, inspect, prioritise and contain threats in industrial environments.

This combination enables coverage of the entire OT cybersecurity lifecycle:

Discover. Identify assets, communications, vulnerabilities and operational dependencies.
Assess. Prioritise risk according to industrial criticality, exposure and likelihood of impact.
Protect. Apply specific controls to networks, endpoints, legacy assets and external devices.
Monitor. Integrate OT events, detect anomalous behaviour and strengthen continuous surveillance.
Contain. Limit lateral movement, isolate threats and prevent propagation towards critical assets.
Respond. Coordinate secure recovery following OT incidents.
Improve. Maintain a continuous industrial risk reduction programme.

Application to the industrial supply chain

Supply chain protection must become a dedicated service line within the SOCITE 360 OT model.

In critical sectors, the main organisation depends on third parties for maintenance, engineering, integration, support, logistics, remote operations, component manufacturing and system updates. Each interaction may represent a risk if not properly controlled.

SOCITE 360, supported by TXOne, can offer an extended third-party security model including:

• Classification of suppliers according to OT impact.
• Minimum cybersecurity requirements for plant access.
• Validation of external equipment before connection.
• Inspection of removable devices.
• Segmentation of supplier access.
• Control of remote communications.
• Monitoring of third-party activity.
• Integration of critical suppliers into response plans.
• Periodic assessment of supply chain risk.

This approach enables protection not only of the organisation’s own assets, but also of the entire industrial ecosystem supporting the continuity of critical infrastructure.

SOCITE 360, as the service brand of ITE’s Cybersecurity Unit, offers a specialised proposal to protect critical infrastructure and industrial OT environments, extending security beyond the main organisation to the entire supply chain.

The incorporation of TXOne Networks technology reinforces this proposal by providing native OT capabilities for discovery, segmentation, industrial endpoint protection, legacy system defence, external device inspection, supplier security and risk prioritisation without compromising operational continuity.

SOCITE 360 and ITE, supported by TXOne, enable industrial organisations to advance towards an OT cybersecurity model that is more visible, better governed, more resilient and aligned with the fundamental priority of every critical infrastructure operator: keeping operations running.

For any additional information, please contact us: nextrading@ite-es.com