Insights · Manufacturing · 5 min read · 2026-06-16

Manufacturing Security: Where IT Testing Ends and OT Reality Begins

Most manufacturers know their OT environment is different from IT — but assessments still treat them the same, or ignore OT entirely.

By Alexander Morrow, Founder & CEO · Blackbox Intelligence Group

The honest scope line

We do not pentest live PLCs or HMIs without explicit, narrowly-scoped consent. By default we assess the IT path to OT — engineering workstations, jump boxes, VPN paths, and identity layers attackers use to reach production networks.

What manufacturers get wrong

Flat networks between corporate IT and engineering VLANs. Shared credentials on engineering workstations. Unpatched Windows boxes on the plant floor because "production cannot stop." These are the paths we validate first.

Safe first engagement

A Security Reality Check scoped to IT and OT-adjacent systems gives leadership a prioritized roadmap without unplanned downtime — we have caused zero unplanned outages during testing to date.