Topic Hub · Industrial Controls

PLC, SCADA & ICS Security

PLCs, SCADA servers, HMI workstations, historians, and Safety Instrumented Systems are the controls that drive the physical process. The articles below cover ICS architecture, controller hardening, project-file integrity, and protocol-aware security.

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ICS Penetration Testing

Protocol-aware penetration testing for PLCs, SCADA, HMI, historians, and SIS.

Field Reports & Research (18)

Field Report

Historian Architecture Patterns for Resilience

Industrial historians store operational data for analysis and compliance. Design historian systems for high availability, recovery, and secure data ma

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Field Report

HMI Hardening: A Practical Guide

Human-Machine Interfaces are operational windows into critical systems. Implement HMI hardening: authentication, network segmentation

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Field Report

Post-Incident Forensics on a PLC

Extracting forensic artifacts from industrial controllers after a breach requires hardware-level understanding. We explain the constraints and techniq

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Field Report

DNP3 Security Considerations for Utilities

DNP3 is the standard protocol for utility SCADA systems. Learn DNP3 architecture, authentication extensions, and security best practices for power and

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Field Report

How We Pen Test OT Without Breaking Production

Traditional red-team tooling will crash PLCs. Our methodology layers passive reconnaissance, controlled active testing in test cells

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Field Report

Flat OT Network to Purdue-Aligned in 90 Days: A Migration Playbook

Most legacy OT networks are flat. Converting to zone-based segmentation requires careful sequencing to avoid production downtime. Here

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Field Report

What OT Visibility Actually Means—And Why You Don't Have It Yet

Every OT security leader claims they have visibility into their industrial networks. Most do not.

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Field Report

Why the Purdue Model Still Matters in 2026

A recurring theme in OT security commentary is that the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture — the multi-level industrial zoning model that has…

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Field Report

OT in the Cloud: Realistic Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Cloud infrastructure is becoming part of manufacturing architecture. Learn which OT workloads belong in the cloud and which should stay on-premises.

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Field Report

Deterministic Networking for Control Traffic

Hard real-time control requires guaranteed latency and bandwidth. Learn when deterministic networking is worth the complexity and how to achieve it.

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Field Report

Hydropower Generation Controls: PNW Specifics

Pacific Northwest hydropower facilities are critical infrastructure. Secure hydropower SCADA systems and dam operations from evolving cyber and physic

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Field Report

Industrial Firewall Rule Hygiene

Firewall rules accumulate technical debt. A rules base that was clean becomes overgrown, redundant, and unmaintainable. Learn to keep rules clean.

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Field Report

IT/OT Convergence Is Not a Strategy. It's a Risk Surface.

Every mid-market manufacturer we meet has been told, by someone, that they need to embrace IT/OT convergence.

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Field Report

North-South vs East-West Traffic in OT

Network segmentation focuses on limiting east-west (lateral) movement. Understanding traffic patterns drives your segmentation strategy.

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Field Report

Cryptomining on Plant Networks: Detection and Economic Impact

Cryptominers compromise industrial networks for computing power. We explain how to detect them and quantify the operational and security costs.

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Field Report

Designing an Industrial DMZ That Actually Works

A properly architected OT DMZ isolates corporate IT from operational systems while maintaining necessary data flow.

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Field Report

ISA/IEC 62443-2-4: Holding OT Integrators Accountable

The 62443 standard requires system integrators to meet specific security competencies. We explain the framework and its implications for vendor manage

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Field Report

Choosing an OT Firewall: What Matters and What Doesn't

Firewall selection drives your segmentation strategy for years. Learn what features actually matter for OT versus vendor marketing fiction.

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