This week, industry leaders are gathering at CS4CA to discuss cybersecurity for critical assets. While the conversation often focuses on IT networks, there’s another layer of risk that deserves equal attention: the operational technology (OT) systems that run our energy infrastructure.

As the world accelerates toward net zero, we’re connecting more assets than ever: renewables, carbon capture, hydrogen, and smarter grids. Each of these innovations brings efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. But they also introduce new vulnerabilities. A solar farm, a hydrogen electrolyser, or a carbon capture facility isn’t just an engineering project anymore, it’s a digital system exposed to cyber threats.

That’s why cyber resilience needs to be a core part of the energy transition. It’s not enough to decarbonise our operations if the infrastructure we build is fragile in the face of digital disruption. From ransomware attacks on oil pipelines to intrusions into power grids, we’ve already seen how cyber incidents can ripple through economies and societies.

What’s needed now is a mindset shift:

Designing resilience in from the start, not as an afterthought.
Too often, cybersecurity measures are bolted on after systems are deployed. In critical infrastructure, that’s a costly and risky approach. By embedding resilience into the design phase – whether in a hydrogen plant, a carbon capture unit, or a wind farm – operators can ensure that recovery, redundancy, and security controls are part of the foundation. It’s far easier (and cheaper) to build security into a blueprint than to retrofit it once vulnerabilities are exposed.

Bridging the IT/OT divide, ensuring operators and cybersecurity teams speak the same language.
Industrial environments bring together very different worlds: IT teams focused on data, networks, and applications, and OT teams focused on uptime, safety, and physical processes. Cyber incidents in one domain almost always affect the other. Bridging the cultural and technical divide means creating shared responsibility, aligning priorities, and building cross-functional teams that understand both the bits and the bolts. Without this, blind spots remain.

Building visibility into assets and systems, so that “unknown unknowns” don’t become easy entry points.
You can’t protect what you don’t know exists. Many industrial sites still lack a full inventory of connected devices, sensors, and legacy systems. Attackers actively exploit these blind spots. By investing in real-time monitoring, asset mapping, and continuous threat detection, operators gain a clear picture of their environment. This visibility turns hidden vulnerabilities into manageable risks and helps organisations stay one step ahead of would-be intruders.

The energy transition is often described in terms of sustainability and cost. But in reality, its success depends equally on trust and resilience. Without robust cybersecurity, our clean energy future risks being built on shaky foundations.

As CS4CA reminds us this week: the transition is not just about cleaner energy: it’s about safer, smarter, and more secure energy.

---

Click here to learn more about BCM Global Energy PR Agency

Related Posts