Does Your OT Environment Need MDR? 7 Questions to Find Out

If ransomware hit a workstation connected to your SCADA system or production line tonight, would your team contain it without shutting everything down?

That’s the nightmare scenario for OT and industrial security leaders in 2025. As IT and OT networks converge, visibility and response gaps are growing—leaving critical infrastructure exposed. According to recent studies, 52% of organizations have placed OT security under the CISO, yet many still lack continuous monitoring, threat detection, and rapid response capabilities.

This is where Managed Detection and Response (MDR) for OT environments makes the difference. MDR helps you detect threats faster, respond safely, and maintain uptime without disrupting production.

Keep reading for seven questions you can use to evaluate whether MDR can help close gaps in your OT security.

What Makes OT Security Different From IT?

Most security strategies were built for IT. OT plays by different rules:

• Legacy infrastructure: OT environments often rely on older, sometimes proprietary systems that can’t be upgraded easily and are no longer supported by vendors.
• Strategic patching, not fast patching: In IT, patches are applied quickly. In OT, updates are carefully planned and tested — sometimes taking months or years — because downtime is not an option.
• Uptime is non-negotiable: In OT, downtime can put lives at risk if critical services like power, water, or manufacturing are interrupted. On top of that, many operators face strict contractual obligations and regulatory fines if systems go offline.

That’s why traditional IT detection and response doesn’t cut it.

7 Questions to Identify Gaps in Your OT Security

Go through these questions with your IT, security, or engineering teams:

1: Do we have a current asset inventory of OT devices?

• Action: Ask for an up-to-date list of every device in your OT environment.
• Why it matters: Blind spots remain the biggest exposure for industrial operations.

2. How are third-party vendors accessing our OT systems remotely?

• Action: Review who has remote access, how they connect, and what security controls (like MFA or session recording) are in place.
• Why it matters: Vendors are often targeted as a backdoor into OT networks. Weak or unmanaged access leaves the door wide open.

3: Who’s monitoring OT systems outside business hours?

• Action: Request logs from the past 30 days of after-hours alerts and responses.
• Why it matters: Most attacks are launched at night or weekends, when teams are thin.

4: Are our IT and OT networks properly segmented—and are isolated systems truly air-gapped?

• Action: Ask your team to show how network segmentation is configured and whether “air-gapped” systems are actually disconnected.
• Why it matters: If attackers can move from IT to OT without hitting a wall, a single compromised laptop can take down critical infrastructure.

5: Is our incident response plan specific to OT systems—and has it been tested?

• Action: Review your IR plan and ask when it was last tested in an OT-specific scenario, like a SCADA breach or PLC compromise.
• Why it matters: OT incidents require a different response than IT. You need to protect uptime, not just recover data.

6: Who owns our OT security budget?

• Action: Get clarity: which department pays, and who signs off?
• Why it matters: Budget ambiguity is one of the biggest blockers to action in the event of an incident.

7: Can we prove compliance today?

• Action: Request a sample evidence pack with detections, responses, and logs tied to OT systems.
• Why it matters: Compliance requirements aren’t going away. Evidence should be ready, not an afterthought.

Why MDR for OT Cybersecurity Matters

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services for OT environments are built for the realities of industrial environments. It helps you detect threats, respond safely, and maintain uptime without disrupting critical operations.

• Continuously monitoring across IT and OT networks.
• Detecting anomalies in industrial protocols and control traffic.
• Responding with OT-aware playbooks that balance securaity with uptime and safety.
• Providing compliance-ready evidence for standards like NERC CIP, IEC 62443, and sector-specific mandates.

What to Do Next

Pick one of these seven questions and bring it to your next leadership meeting.

If your team can’t give you a clear answer within 72 hours, you’ve uncovered a real operational risk. That’s where ProArch's Managed Detection and Response for OT comes in — giving you visibility, response, and compliance evidence without risking downtime.

Find out how ProArch’s Managed Detection and Response Services protect OT environments, maintain uptime and strengthen compliance.