Operational technology (OT) is the set of systems that monitor and control physical processes. It includes industrial control systems, sensors, actuators, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) platforms used in energy, manufacturing, utilities, and other critical industries. Unlike ordinary IT, OT is designed around safety, uptime, and predictable behavior, so failures can have physical consequences.
OT matters in cyber security because a compromise can move beyond data theft and affect equipment, production, or safety. Attackers often reach OT indirectly, starting with exposed IT systems, stolen credentials, or weak network segmentation, then moving toward engineering workstations or remote-access paths. Defenses focus on separating IT from OT, limiting privileged access, maintaining accurate asset inventories, monitoring for unusual activity, and patching in a way that respects operational constraints. In energy operations, strong OT security helps keep physical processes stable even when the business network is under attack.