Mind the (air) gap: Bridging the divide between IT and OT

If you're in the business of manufacturing, oil and gas, utilities, transportation or mining, unanticipated downtime is a constant threat. Operational technology (OT) teams live and breathe to maintain the production line and ensure workers’ physical safety. Information technology (IT) teams, on the other hand, are focused more on data and cybersecurity, system uptime and business-level analytics. Traditionally, these two worlds have operated in isolation — and for good reason. If you cannot connect to a system, you can’t hack it … but that also means IT teams cannot get any insights into system performance, predictive maintenance signals or any learnings that could be gained from more modern artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

But this "air gap" is no longer a long-term strategy in a world increasingly driven by real-time data and the need for speed. The sheer volume and complexity of data from real-time sensor readings, production logs and system updates are increasing exponentially. This explosion of data is pushing the two worlds to converge, creating new challenges — and opportunities — for both OT and IT professionals.

Don’t let legacy air gaps hold your organization back

The core problem is that your most valuable operational data is trapped. It sits on machines on the factory floor, which is a critical resource that IT can't easily access for analysis and decision-making.

For IT experts, this means:

• You can't get real-time insights. Data is often manually transferred, leading to delays and errors that hinder data-driven analytics.
• Your AI and machine learning initiatives are limited. AI is only as good as the data you feed it. Without seamless, direct transfers between OT and IT, your predictive maintenance and process optimization efforts will fall short. You may need to abandon these efforts entirely and risk your own competitiveness as a result.
• Your IT security and governance policies are only half-effective. The "air gap" makes it impossible to apply consistent data security controls, access policies and audit trails across both IT and OT networks, which creates a dangerous blind spot and manual workarounds for security teams.

For OT experts, this means:

• You're exposed to new OT security risks. Increased connectivity exposes OT systems to cyber threats, and many legacy systems lack the security features needed to defend against modern attacks. Your company name cannot end up in the headlines.
• Patching and updates are a constant challenge. Updating legacy systems can be difficult due to compatibility issues and vendor support limitations. When a system update is needed, it often requires downtime, which is the last thing you want.
• Innovation is stifled. Without a way to leverage operational data, it's difficult to drive initiatives like predictive analysis, process optimization and digital transformation, which means more late-night maintenance calls and unhappy engineers.

What if there was a secure, easy way you could bridge the air gap securely and gather these insights for both teams of experts? 

Bridging the gap while minding the gap

IT/OT convergence isn't about forcing OT experts to accept anything less than a secure and safe environment. Solutions like JSCAPE by Redwood can create a bridge over the air gap, creating a secure, one-way path that allows OT data to be a resource for IT without compromising the OT environment. We call this an “ethical air gap." By bridging this gap securely, your organization can immediately benefit; in fact, one study found that firms using more predictive and preventive maintenance had 52.7% less unplanned downtime and 78.5% fewer defects¹ than those relying heavily on reactive maintenance. This demonstrates the power of a modern approach enabled by secure OT system data transfer.

This secure bridge allows your organization to achieve what was once impossible:

• Analyzing real-time data from your SCADA, PLC and MES systems to make smarter operational and business decisions

• Secure, one-way data flow with centralized management simplifies meeting compliance like NERC-CIP, while also providing greater visibility and control
• Scalability for the future as the volume of data grows, which keeps your organization from being limited by your trusted legacy systems
• Simplified data management and security patch application with a centralized platform replaces complex, point-to-point connections.

JSCAPE provides a platform for this ethical air gap, with the security reputation OT experts demand. Its robust architecture allows for secure, outbound-only connections from the OT network to the IT network. This means OT systems can send data to IT without ever being exposed to inbound connections from the internet, protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats. Best of all, you get the financial benefits of predictive maintenance, drastically reducing or eliminating unplanned downtime for your site.

Don't let your siloed OT data be a roadblock to competitive progress. See how JSCAPE can help you bridge the gap between your OT and IT systems and unlock the power of your operational data.

Citations:

1. Thomas, D., & Weiss, B. (2021). Maintenance Costs and Advanced Maintenance Techniques in Manufacturing Machinery: Survey and Analysis. International journal of prognostics and health management. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9890517