OT, ICS & Critical
Infrastructure Security
Protect operational environments where availability and safety matter. OT and ICS support essential services - production, utilities, transport, facilities, energy, water, manufacturing and critical infrastructure. RTCS assesses OT and ICS security with a practical, risk-based approach that respects uptime, safety and operational continuity.
- OT and ICS security assessments
- Critical infrastructure cyber risk reviews
- OT / IT network segmentation reviews
- Remote access and vendor connectivity review
- OT asset discovery and exposure review
- Control system access and privileged-account review
- Backup, recovery and incident response planning for OT
- SOCI Act readiness support and risk management uplift
- Supplier and third-party access review
OT environments need a different security approach.
Availability, safety, uptime and operational continuity must be considered before any security change. The goal isn't to apply corporate IT security blindly - it's to improve security without creating unnecessary operational risk. RTCS works with the realities of legacy systems, vendor-managed equipment and processes that can't be patched or restarted easily.
Where OT environments usually expose risk.
Poor separation between IT and OT networks
Unmanaged remote access
Legacy systems with limited security controls
Shared or weak credentials
Limited asset visibility
Insecure vendor access
Poor logging and monitoring
Flat networks
Unclear ownership of OT cyber risk
Backup and recovery gaps
Limited IR planning for operational environments
A practical review across people, process, technology and suppliers.
RTCS reviews OT and ICS environments and prioritises findings based on safety, availability, exposure and business impact - not just IT-style severity scores.
Segmentation & Remote Access
IT / OT Segmentation
How OT networks are separated from corporate IT, cloud services and third-party networks. IT/OT boundary review, firewall rules, network zones and conduits, and privileged pathways between zones.
Remote Access & Vendor Connectivity
Remote access pathways, vendor access controls, jump host configuration, MFA enforcement, approval workflows and logging of remote access activity. Pair with Identity & Access Management.
Stronger governance, resilience and reporting.
Critical infrastructure organisations may need to demonstrate stronger governance, resilience and cyber risk management. RTCS reviews controls, evidence and readiness against relevant obligations.
For the wider governance program (Essential Eight, ISO 27001, ISM, PSPF), pair with Governance, Risk & Compliance.
Response that doesn't make the outage worse.
A rushed response can disrupt operations or increase safety risk. RTCS develops practical OT incident response plans and playbooks that consider operational impact, escalation, communications, evidence preservation and recovery priorities.
Ransomware Affecting OT Support
Containment that preserves operational visibility, decision tree for safe shutdown vs continued operation, and recovery prioritisation across IT support systems and the production environment.
Loss of Visibility / Monitoring
Triage when SCADA, HMI or historian visibility is lost or unreliable, escalation criteria and safe operational fallback procedures.
Compromised Remote Access
Isolating jump hosts, revoking vendor and support sessions, identifying lateral movement into OT zones and rebuilding clean access pathways.
Vendor Account Compromise
Containing third-party identities, contractual notification, blast-radius assessment across shared support tooling.
Unauthorised Network Activity
OT-aware triage of suspicious traffic, segmentation enforcement and forensic preservation without disrupting production.
Control System Disruption / Outage
Recovery prioritisation for critical control systems, coordination with engineering teams and crisis communications.
For executive-level crisis decisions and BCP, pair with Crisis Management & Cyber Resilience. For technical IR capability, see Incident Response Readiness.
OT often depends on the people you don't employ.
Many OT environments rely on vendors for support, maintenance and remote access. RTCS reviews supplier access arrangements to identify unnecessary exposure and weak controls.
For broader third-party governance, see Supply Chain Risk.
Understand to Support
A practical, staged engagement that improves OT security without creating unnecessary operational risk.
Review the environment, operational requirements, critical systems, safety considerations and business constraints.
Assess architecture, access, segmentation, monitoring, recovery, governance and supplier risk.
Rank findings based on operational impact, safety, exposure and likelihood.
Provide practical remediation steps that consider the realities of OT environments.
Where required, support planning, documentation, stakeholder workshops and remediation tracking.
Who It's For & What You Receive
Who This Service Is For
- Operate OT or ICS environments
- Provide critical services
- Manage industrial, utility, transport, facility or production systems
- Need to reduce OT cyber risk
- Need to review remote access into operational environments
- Need better separation between IT and OT networks
- Need incident response planning for OT systems
- Need SOCI Act or critical infrastructure readiness support
- Want practical recommendations without disrupting operations
Typical Deliverables
- OT security assessment report
- ICS risk review
- Critical infrastructure readiness review
- OT asset and exposure findings
- Network segmentation observations
- Remote access risk findings
- Supplier access review
- Backup and recovery observations
- Incident response recommendations
- Risk-rated remediation roadmap
- Executive summary
Where OT security connects to the rest of the program.
Physical Security →
Site, server room, access control, CCTV and visitor reviews for the facilities that house OT environments.
Governance, Risk & Compliance →
SOCI Act, ISM, PSPF, Essential Eight and risk management uplift for the wider governance program.
Crisis Management →
BCP, executive crisis decisions and tabletop exercises for OT-impacting incidents.
Incident Response Readiness →
Technical IR capability and playbooks that integrate with operational response.
Detection & Response Readiness →
SIEM, logging and monitoring uplift across the IT systems that border the OT environment.
Identity & Access Management →
Privileged access, vendor identity and remote-access controls into the OT zone.
Supply Chain Risk →
Third-party support, OEM and vendor risk that often sits at the heart of OT operations.
vCISO & Security Advisory →
Executive-level oversight of OT cyber risk and integration into the broader security roadmap.
OT and critical infrastructure security needs to be practical, measured and aligned to operational reality. Talk to us about an OT security assessment, ICS security review, critical infrastructure readiness assessment or OT incident response planning engagement.
Common Questions
What is OT security?
OT security protects operational technology systems that monitor or control physical processes, equipment, facilities or industrial environments.
What is ICS security?
ICS security focuses on protecting industrial control systems such as SCADA, PLCs, DCS platforms and supporting engineering systems.
Is OT security different from IT security?
Yes. OT security must consider safety, uptime, process integrity and operational continuity. Security controls need to be planned carefully so they do not disrupt critical operations.
Can you assess remote access into OT environments?
Yes. RTCS can review vendor access, remote support pathways, jump hosts, VPNs, privileged accounts and logging of remote access activity.
Can you help with SOCI Act readiness?
Yes. RTCS can support readiness activities, including control review, risk management support, evidence collection, incident response planning and executive reporting.
Do you perform OT penetration testing?
Authorised OT security testing can be considered where it is safe and appropriate. Testing must be carefully scoped to avoid operational disruption.
Not sure what you need?
Use the enquiry form or email [email protected] with a brief summary. Include your organisation, the service area if known, and any timing requirements.