Cyber-informed engineering could empower mainstream engineers with the know-how they need to secure operational tech against rising cyber threats.

Cyber threats targeting operational technology (OT) have posed a hazard for infrastructure engineers for more than a decade. Increased integration with IT systems has brought in extra attack vectors that can expose OT environments to the downstream consequences of hacks primarily launched against line-of-business applications.

Either way, OT attacks are differentiated in that they have physical consequences, such as production outages, equipment damage, environmental harms and human injuries or casualties. Waterfall Security’s 2024 threat report found that in 2023 there were 68 cyber attacks with physical consequences in/on OT networks (at more than 500 sites) – a 19% increase in incidents over 2022.

Much of the OT world relies on arrays of physical interfaces, such as industrial control systems, distributed control systems and supervisory control...