OT/IT convergence in African industrial parks
Securing operational technology environments without disrupting production lines.
As industrial parks digitize, the wall between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) is dissolving. PLCs, SCADA systems, and smart sensors now share networks with email and ERP traffic ... and that convergence creates risk.
The classic IT security playbook ... patch fast, scan aggressively, segment by user ... breaks production lines. OT environments need passive monitoring, strict network segmentation, and change windows aligned with maintenance schedules.
Our field experience across Nigerian industrial estates shows the most effective first step is visibility: a complete asset inventory of every connected device, its firmware state, and its communication patterns. Most operators are surprised by what they find.
From there, a zoned architecture with industrial firewalls between cells, unidirectional gateways for data export, and continuous anomaly detection delivers security without sacrificing uptime.