Cisco: AI can help security challenges created by IT/OT integration

Another major challenge for organizations running industrial infrastructure is dealing with AI, which has the potential to transform industrial networking.

Nearly half (48%) of respondents cited AI as the emerging technology that will have the most significant impact on industrial networking over the next five years. For example, 49% of respondents anticipate better network management across both IT and OT utilizing AI tools, and 46% expect AI to improve collaboration between OT and IT teams. 

“AI is poised to play a transformative role in industrial networking, with the ability to automate tasks, improve network performance, and predict potential issues before they disrupt operations,” Higgins wrote. “Participants further stated that AI in industrial networking would be a spending priority in the same time period, which further indicates the urgency to prepare operational networks for the highest value AI use cases.”

AI might also be a double-edged sword, however. While AI offers OT benefits such as process optimization and threat detection, bad actors are also using adversarial AI techniques to turn the technology against firms, Higgins noted.

Some other notable items from the report:

• More than a third of respondents (36%) say they are increasing collaboration between IT and OT teams. Aligning potentially siloed functions will be crucial to overcome technology deployment inefficiencies and cybersecurity risks, according to the report.
• 41% of firms said their IT and OT teams are working independently on cybersecurity.
• 83% have no plans to reduce the number of vendors they work with, indicating a preference to optimize existing technology rather than attempt to shed and consolidate platforms.