A staggering 61% of organizations have experienced a data breach or cybersecurity incident in the past two years, with 55% facing four or more incidents during that period according to a recent Optiv survey.
As IT and OT environments become increasingly intertwined, the traditional divide between them is no longer just a technical issue, it’s a critical risk vector. Modern attackers don’t care about internal boundaries; they exploit them. While IT teams focus on safeguarding data and digital assets, OT teams prioritize uptime and physical safety. This disjointed approach leaves gaps ripe for exploitation.
To stay ahead of threats, organizations must adopt a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) framework. A proactive, real-time strategy that unifies risk visibility across both IT and OT domains. CTEM doesn’t just identify vulnerabilities; it helps organizations prioritize and remediate them based on business impact, giving security leaders the edge they need to defend the entire enterprise.
The IT/OT Divide: A Growing Risk Vector
Historically, IT systems (enterprise networks, cloud infrastructure, data centers) and OT systems (industrial control systems, SCADA, manufacturing machinery) were developed and operated independently. OT environments prioritized reliability and safety, often using legacy protocols and systems that weren’t designed with modern cyber threats in mind. Meanwhile, IT focused on data confidentiality and integrity.
The convergence of IT and OT, driven by digital transformation, IoT adoption, and Industry 4.0 has significantly increased the attack surface. Threat actors now have pathways to pivot from IT into OT systems, potentially disrupting physical processes, safety mechanisms, or even causing catastrophic operational failures.
The infamous 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack starkly illustrated this point. Although the attackers targeted IT systems, operations across the OT infrastructure were suspended due to fears of lateral movement and system compromise, leading to fuel shortages and economic disruptions across the U.S. East Coast.
Risk Management in Silos: Why Traditional Approaches Fall Short
Organizations often maintain separate cybersecurity teams and tools for IT and OT. This fragmentation impedes the organization’s ability to gain a unified view of risk exposure, causes duplicated efforts, and fosters blind spots that attackers can exploit.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Oil and Gas industry mphasizes that “an integrated, risk-based approach to cybersecurity across IT and OT is essential for building organizational resilience,” noting that “IT and OT must collaborate to defend the expanded digital frontier”.
What is CTEM?
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a cybersecurity strategy promoted by Gartner that aims to help organizations continuously identify, assess, and prioritize threats across their digital ecosystem from IT to OT. Rather than relying on point-in-time assessments or compliance checklists, CTEM delivers ongoing, risk-prioritized visibility into real-world exposure.
According to Gartner, CTEM consists of five stages:
- Scoping: Defining and selecting the assets or systems to assess.
- Discovery: Mapping the full attack surface, including shadow IT and unmanaged assets.
- Prioritization: Evaluating vulnerabilities based on exploitability and business impact.
- Validation: Using tools like attack simulations to test controls and exposure.
- Mobilization: Coordinating remediation and mitigation strategies.
By iterating through these stages continuously, organizations can maintain an up-to-date view of risks and adapt swiftly to emerging threats.
CTEM for IT/OT Integration: A Game Changer
Applying CTEM to both IT and OT environments offers several key advantages:
1. Unified Visibility Across Domains
CTEM frameworks leverage asset discovery and continuous attack surface management to unify visibility across IT and OT. This allows security leaders to understand shared vulnerabilities, lateral movement paths, and dependencies that might otherwise go unnoticed.
2. Business Risk Prioritization
Instead of drowning in a sea of alerts, CTEM frameworks help security teams prioritize issues based on their actual threat context and business impact. For example, a misconfigured OT device with access to a critical production line would be flagged as higher risk than a low-sensitivity IT server.
3. Reduced Response Time and Resource Optimization
By continuously validating exposures with tools like breach and attack simulations, CTEM ensures that remediation efforts are targeted and evidence-based. This reduces Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR), conserving resources while improving outcomes.
4. Compliance and Audit Readiness
Industries such as energy, manufacturing, and healthcare must comply with standards like NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and NIST CSF. CTEM can streamline compliance reporting by providing ongoing evidence of security posture and risk mitigation activities.
Making It Real: Steps Toward Implementation
To operationalize CTEM in an integrated IT/OT context:
- Break the silos: Establish joint governance between IT and OT security teams, aligning on risk thresholds and response strategies.
- Deploy asset-centric monitoring: Use tools that support both digital and physical assets, including industrial protocols (e.g., Modbus, DNP3).
- Leverage automation: Use automation to perform continuous discovery, attack simulations, and threat modeling across hybrid networks.
- Focus on business impact: Don’t treat all vulnerabilities equally; prioritize based on mission-critical processes and real-world attack feasibility.
Conclusion
As digital and physical systems become more interconnected, the stakes for cybersecurity continue to rise. Bridging the IT/OT divide is no longer optional. By adopting a CTEM approach, organizations can move beyond fragmented defenses and toward an integrated, risk-based model that enhances resilience, safeguards operations, and supports strategic decision-making.
