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OT Connectivity Governance: Why CISOs Must Require a Business Case for Every Connection

From a CISO standpoint, uncontrolled connectivity equals uncontrolled risk.

The NCSC guidance is explicit: every OT connection must be justified by a documented business case. This requirement establishes governance discipline and audit ability.

What CISOs Should Demand

Each connectivity request should define:

  • Operational necessity
  • Business value
  • Acceptable cyber and safety risk
  • Impact of compromise
  • External dependencies introduced
  • A named senior risk owner

This shifts accountability away from engineering teams and squarely into risk ownership structures.

The Legacy Asset Problem

Obsolete OT assets amplify risk because they:

  • Cannot be patched
  • Lack of authentication or encryption
  • Require compensating controls that rarely scale

From a risk perspective, legacy systems must be treated as untrusted by default.

Executive Insight

If leadership cannot articulate:

  • Why a connection exists
  • What happens when it fails
  • Who owns the risk

Then the connection represents unmanaged enterprise exposure.


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