OT Red Team Assessment

An OT Red Team Assessment shows how a single misconfigured PLC or weak maintenance VPN could let attackers halt production or endanger safety. These assessments help test and strengthen an organization's defenses by simulating real-world attack scenarios, uncovering vulnerabilities, and improving threat response capabilities. OT environments demand a different playbook than IT, and modern red teaming—augmented by AI—reveals real attack paths and tests an organization's security defenses in realistic ways.

Operational teams face fast-moving threats and tight safety constraints. The rise of ransomware attacks targeting OT environments, especially in manufacturing and energy sectors, highlights the evolving threat landscape and the need for robust defenses. This article explains how red team assessments work in OT environments, how AI helps, how to plan and run exercises safely, and how to turn findings into measurable security improvements.

Operational technology refers to the systems that monitor and control industrial processes: PLCs, HMIs, SCADA, DCS, and field devices. Human machine interfaces (HMIs) serve as critical dashboards for operational technology, providing key points of access and visibility into industrial processes. OT networks often prioritize availability over confidentiality, so patching windows is narrow, and legacy hardware is common.

• OT networks have unique attack vectors: exposed RTUs, insecure industrial protocols, and remote maintenance tools.
• IT/OT convergence expands the attack surface: a compromised workstation or phishing link can allow lateral movement into control systems.
• Consequences include safety incidents, production loss, equipment damage, and regulatory exposure.

Many organizations still lack full asset inventories for OT environments, making it hard to identify vulnerabilities or to prioritize mitigation. A comprehensive assessment provides a deep understanding of the OT network and helps security teams and system administrators focus on high-value targets.

A red team assessment is an adversary-emulation exercise designed to test people, processes, and technical controls by simulating realistic attack scenarios. An OT Red Team Assessment applies that same approach to industrial control systems and operational technology.

• Objective: emulate threat actors that aim to gain access to OT networks, manipulate industrial processes, or persist inside critical infrastructure.
• Scope: includes SCADA servers, PLCs, HMIs, engineering workstations, and the IT/OT boundary.
• Distinction: unlike routine penetration testing, red team assessments stress detection, incident response, and the full kill chain.

A well-run red team test highlights gaps in detection and response capabilities and measures how long it takes a defensive team to detect an intrusion and to recover.

AI tools make red team assessments more efficient and less risky. Machine learning helps spot anomalous behavior and prioritize attack paths that matter most.

• Digital twin simulation enables safe testing of process-impact scenarios without touching production systems.
• AI-driven analytics accelerate anomaly detection and deliver richer context for incident response.
• Automated attack-path modelling surfaces likely ways attackers could escalate privileges and gain initial access.
• Threat intelligence integration supports realistic adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures.

These techniques let red teams focus on realistic attack scenarios and help security teams improve continuous monitoring and incident response capabilities.

Planning centers on safety and clarity. A red team assessment test must protect people and processes.

• Define scope: identify OT zones, allowed targets (e.g., HMI vs PLC), and exclusions.
• Set objectives: e.g., gain access to an engineering workstation, escalate privileges to a SCADA account, or simulate a process disruption.
• Agree RoE (rules of engagement): safety thresholds, fallback plans, and communication channels.
• Stakeholder alignment: security team, operations, engineering, and system administrators must coordinate.
• Threat modelling: use open source intelligence plus sector threat data to select realistic attack vectors.

Because vulnerability scanning can itself create risk in OT environments, thorough planning includes fallback procedures and limits on any intrusive actions.

In operational technology environments, the blue team serves as the frontline defensive team, dedicated to safeguarding sensitive data and maintaining a strong security posture. During red team assessments, the blue team's mission is to detect, analyze, and respond to simulated real-world attack scenarios that mirror the tactics of actual threat actors.

By monitoring for signs of initial access attempts and lateral movement within the OT environment, the blue team works to prevent the red team from exploiting vulnerabilities or gaining unauthorized access to critical systems. A key responsibility of the blue team is to ensure that the organization's security program is robust enough to withstand sophisticated attacks.

By actively defending against simulated attacks, the blue team not only protects the organization's defenses but also identifies areas for improvement in both technology and processes. This ongoing cycle of assessment and enhancement is essential for maintaining resilience in OT environments, where the stakes for business operations and safety are especially high.

A red team exercise follows phases that mirror real-world attacks.

• Reconnaissance: inventory assets, map network segmentation, and gather open source intelligence.
• Initial access: pursue phishing attempts or exploit exposed management interfaces to gain initial access to internal networks.
• Lateral movement: move from IT into OT networks using stolen credentials, weak segmentation, or misconfigured firewalls.
• Privilege escalation: escalate privileges on engineering workstations or SCADA servers.
• Control and manipulation: in a safe environment, after the red team has gained access to critical systems, attempt to change process set points or simulate impact on industrial processes.
• Persistence and evasion: test the organization's ability to detect anomalous behavior, maintain persistence, and the effectiveness of intrusion prevention systems.
• Reporting and remediation: provide evidence, attack path analysis, and prioritized fixes.

This structured approach helps the defensive team learn where detection and response capabilities are weak and which technical controls and processes should be improved.

Common failure points that red team assessments often reveal:

• Legacy, unpatched devices that cannot be updated safely.
• Poor network segmentation; IT/OT boundaries that allow lateral movement.
• Unencrypted, unauthenticated industrial protocols such as Modbus or OPC Classic.
• Weak remote access or vendor maintenance paths.
• Gaps in monitoring and logging for OT networks.
• Physical security lapses at control rooms or substations.

Typical attack path: phishing → compromised admin workstation → lateral movement into OT → escalate privileges → manipulate PLCs or HMIs to cause production impact.

The assessment's value shows when findings drive change.

• Prioritize remediation on attack paths with the highest business impact.
• Deploy AI-driven continuous monitoring to improve detection and reduce time-to-detect.
• Strengthen technical controls: segmentation, secure remote access, and hardened configurations.
• Improve incident response: update IR plans, run tabletop exercises, and align blue team and operations.
• Repeat tests: regular red team assessments and follow-up exercises raise maturity and cyber resilience.

By combining people, processes, and technology improvements, organizations can measure reductions in detection and response time and strengthen their security posture.

Modern OT threats demand more than periodic penetration testing. A well-scoped red team assessment replicates real-world attacks, shows how attackers gain access, exposes security vulnerabilities, and reveals how well detection and response capabilities perform. When augmented by AI, digital twin testing, and continuous monitoring, red teaming becomes a practical way to improve an organization's security posture and enhance cyber resilience across critical infrastructure sectors.

If your business operations rely on industrial control systems, consider whether a red team assessment test is the best next step to protect people, processes, and assets.