OT assets are fundamental to keeping critical infrastructure operations running in . They power manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and energy worldwide. But as these environments grow more interconnected with IT and IoT systems, their once-isolated networks have become prime targets for modern cyber adversaries.
Today’s attackers leverage automation, AI, and threat intelligence of their own to weaponize vulnerabilities faster than ever before. In the past year alone, the industry has seen a surge in OT-focused ransomware and targeted campaigns:
- Honeywell’s 2025 Cyber Threat Report reported a 46% spike in ransomware incidents targeting OT systems, often through legacy equipment and weak remote access controls.
- The BAUXITE campaign (2024–2025) exploited exposed Unitronics PLCs and industrial firewalls across energy and water utilities, deploying a custom OT backdoor known as IOControl.
- The South African Weather Service suffered an early-2025 outage that disrupted critical forecasting operations, highlighting the ripple effect OT disruptions can have on safety, supply chains, and economies.
These events share a common theme. Attackers are exploiting visibility gaps, unpatched vulnerabilities, and cross-domain pathways to move laterally from IT networks into OT systems.
For OT teams, the challenge isn’t necessarily detecting threats, it’s understanding and knowing which vulnerabilities matter most, how attacks could propagate, and acting preemptively to prevent operational impact.
Turning Foresight into Action
Armis delivers the intelligence and context OT security teams need to stay ahead of fast-moving adversaries in an environment where patching is difficult or impossible and mitigations can be time consuming to implement. Here we are honing in on two of Armis Centrix™ powerful capabilities: Early Warning and Attack Pathway Mapping. Let’s take a look at how organizations can gain a unified, proactive defense framework by embracing this strategy.