OT Risk Assessment: A 2025 Guide

An OT Risk Assessment is the process of identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing risks that could impact operational technology (OT) systems such as SCADA, ICS, and PLCs. Unlike IT risk assessments, which focus on protecting data, OT risk assessments are about protecting physical operations—keeping production running, ensuring safety, and safeguarding critical infrastructure.

Why is an OT Risk Assessment Important?

Cyberattacks on OT are rising – Industrial ransomware, supply chain compromises, and targeted malware campaigns like Stuxnet and Triton show how adversaries exploit OT environments.
Downtime is costly – A single outage in a refinery, factory, or utility can lead to losses measured in millions per hour.
Safety is at stake – OT systems directly manage industrial processes, energy distribution, and safety-critical equipment.
Compliance requires it – Regulations such as NIST CSF, ISA/IEC 62443, and NERC CIP mandate risk-based approaches for securing critical infrastructure.

Key Components of an OT Risk Assessment

A complete OT risk assessment generally includes:

Asset Identification – Building a complete inventory of devices, applications, and networks.
Threat Analysis – Cataloging cyber and physical risks that could disrupt operations.
Vulnerability Assessment – Identifying weak points such as legacy devices, flat networks, or insecure configurations.
Likelihood & Impact Scoring – Estimating probability and potential consequences of each risk.
Risk Prioritization – Ranking risks to focus limited resources on what matters most.
Mitigation Planning – Outlining controls, segmentation, and defensive improvements.

How OT Risk Assessment Differs from IT Risk Assessment

Focus – IT protects data, OT protects uptime and safety.
Impact – IT downtime disrupts productivity; OT downtime halts production and endangers people and equipment.
Constraints – OT often relies on legacy systems that cannot be patched or restarted without risk to operations.

AI-Powered OT Risk Assessment

Traditional OT risk assessments are manual, static, and disruptive. Frenos changes this by using AI-driven digital twin simulations to automate and accelerate the process:

Automated Asset Discovery – Build high-fidelity digital replicas of OT networks without touching production systems.
Continuous Threat Simulation – Run adversary-based attack path modeling safely, without disrupting operations.
Risk-Based Prioritization – Rank risks by real-world operational and business impact, not generic scoring.
Real-Time Dashboards – Replace static reports with ongoing visibility into changing OT risk posture.

This means assessments are not just faster—they are continuous, accurate, and safer for critical environments.

5 Steps to Conducting an OT Risk Assessment

Define Scope – Decide which sites, systems, or processes need to be assessed.
Identify Assets & Dependencies – Map devices, configurations, and operational interdependencies.
Analyze Threats & Vulnerabilities – Identify cyber and operational risks to uptime, safety, and compliance.
Score and Prioritize Risks – Evaluate risks based on likelihood and impact to business operations.
Mitigate & Monitor – Implement controls, track progress, and continuously validate defenses.

👉 Learn more: Explore Frenos’ AI-Powered OT Assessment Solutions

Key Takeaway

An OT Risk Assessment is essential to reduce downtime, ensure safety, and meet compliance mandates. With Frenos’ AI-powered approach, organizations can identify and prioritize risks faster, more accurately, and without operational disruption—empowering security and operations teams to act with confidence.