GigaOm Key Criteria for Evaluating Operational Technology (OT) Security Solutionsv2.0

1. Executive Summary

Operational technology (OT) security solutions are an essential tool for organizations striving to secure their assets and protect against threats. OT security solutions provide automated asset discovery, dynamic network segmentation, AI technologies for threat detection, protocol and application decoding, OT-specific threat intelligence, integration with IT security systems, and visualizations of OT asset relationships.

These solutions are vital for organizations already using OT because they provide a comprehensive approach to securing OT assets. They help address challenges such as detecting and responding to threats, mitigating vulnerabilities, and ensuring compliance with regulations. The benefits of OT security solutions include improved security posture, reduced risk of cyberattacks, and better visibility and control of OT assets.

The target audience for OT security solutions includes organizations across various industries that already use other OT solutions, such as manufacturing, energy, transportation, and healthcare. In terms of market maturity, there has been a rapidly growing interest in OT security solutions in recent years and vendors are continuously developing and maturing their offerings to meet customer requirements. Some vendors have evolved into this space from related areas, while others have built their solutions from the ground up to address this specific issue.

Business Imperative
OT security solutions are essential for organizations using OT to protect their assets and ensure their security posture. This report provides an overview of these solutions, their key features, and their benefits and challenges, as well as the market trends and vendor landscape. It serves as a valuable resource for organizations looking to enhance their OT security.

Sector Adoption Score
To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of an OT security solution deployment to the business, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of a OT security solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 1) of 4.2 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This suggests that a OT security solution is a credible candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for OT security are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.

Figure 1. Sector Adoption Score for OT Security

This is the second year that GigaOm has reported on the OT security space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Key Criteria report highlights the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) for selecting an effective OT security solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those decision criteria. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading OT security offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.