Case Study

Protecting a Manufacturing Enterprise from OT/IT Convergence Risks

Securing connected manufacturing environments through IT/OT segmentation, controlled remote access and continuous monitoring.

Client Overview

A connected manufacturing environment across 3 plants

The client is a multi-plant industrial equipment manufacturer operating three production facilities with a connected supply chain network integrating IoT-enabled machinery. As shop-floor digitisation increased, connected PLCs, SCADA systems and IoT sensors created greater convergence between IT and OT environments.

Industry

Manufacturing

Core Business

Industrial Equipment Manufacturing

Environment

3 Production Facilities | Connected Supply Chain | IoT-Enabled Machinery

The Challenge

OT/IT convergence created serious security and operational risks

As the organisation digitised its shop floor with IoT sensors, SCADA systems and connected PLCs, the boundary between IT and OT networks became increasingly blurred. This created significant exposure across production systems, third-party access and plant-floor monitoring.

Key Issues Identified

OT systems running outdated, unpatched firmware
No segmentation between OT and corporate IT networks
No visibility into east-west traffic between plant-floor devices
Vendor remote-access tools without access controls or session logging
Risk of a compromised endpoint spreading across the plant network
No OT-specific incident response plan
Production downtime directly impacting business revenue

Our Solution

A segmented, monitored and secure OT/IT environment

Cloudone designed an IT/OT segmentation strategy paired with continuous monitoring, purpose-built for manufacturing environments where uptime and safety are critical. The solution focused on isolating production systems while enabling secure and auditable third-party access.

Key Technologies

Next-Generation Firewalls with OT-aware deep packet inspection at the IT/OT boundary
Network Segmentation using VLANs and micro-segmentation
Secure Remote Access Gateway with MFA and session recording
Industrial-Grade IDS for anomaly detection across OT protocols including Modbus and PROFINET
Centralized SIEM for unified IT + OT log correlation
24×7 SOC Monitoring with OT-specific incident response playbooks

Implementation

From OT discovery to continuous security monitoring

A phased deployment approach was designed to strengthen security while avoiding disruption to ongoing production operations.

01Weeks 1-4

OT Asset Discovery & Risk Assessment

Assessed the OT environment across all 3 plants and mapped 200+ connected devices, identifying unsegmented legacy PLCs and unmanaged vendor access points.

02Weeks 5-9

Network Segmentation

Rolled out network segmentation plant-by-plant during planned maintenance windows to avoid production impact.

03Weeks 10-12

OT-Aware Threat Detection

Deployed industrial-grade OT-aware IDS to detect anomalies across production network protocols.

04Weeks 10-12

Secure Remote Access

Implemented a secure remote-access gateway with MFA and session recording for third-party vendors.

05Weeks 13-14

SIEM & SOC Integration

Integrated IT and OT visibility through SIEM and completed SOC handover and playbook validation.

06Ongoing

Continuous Security

Conduct quarterly OT vulnerability assessments, coordinate patch management during maintenance cycles and perform vendor-access audits.

The Results

A more secure and resilient manufacturing environment

The client achieved full segmentation between IT and OT networks, eliminated blind spots in vendor access and gained real-time visibility into plant-floor anomalies — without a single hour of unplanned production downtime during the rollout.

ZERO

Unplanned production downtime from security incidents in 12 months

100%

Vendor remote-access sessions logged & access-controlled

85%

Reduction in MTTD for anomalous OT network activity

200+

OT devices under continuous surveillance

Critical PLC vulnerabilities identified & remediated

40%

Faster vendor onboarding through standardised secure access

Let’s build a more resilient tomorrow.

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